The Bachelor
by lemony anemone
Summary: Jade Hex becomes a contestant on The Bachelor. Wally West, meet your match. CH 16: "Look me straight in the eyes and tell me that you hate me. I bet you can't."
1. It Begins

_This is a new idea I came up with…definitely not one of my smarter ideas, considering I've never watched a full episode of the Bachelor - but let's see how I do. And keep in mind, the episode "Lightspeed" never happened. Enjoy!_

"What." Pink eyes glowed dangerously behind a cheerfully fake smile. This was not a question. It was a statement.

A sweat drop appeared behind Kory's head. She held up her hands in defense. "It wasn't my fault!"

"Oh." Jade's voice became syrupy sweet. "So it was an accident that you wrote out an application with my name on it, and an accident you mailed it to the hosts of The Bachelor, and…" she erupted. "AN ACCIDENT YOU FORGED MY SIGNATURE OF CONSENT ON THE CONTRACT TO SAY I WOULD APPEAR ON THE SHOW!"

"Well…I mean I wasn't the one who planned it all." Kory pointed at Tara. "That part was all her."

Tara tried to hide behind a pillow to avoid Jade's wrath. "Heh…heh." Too late. Tara was soon seen running behind the couches yelling in terror. Unfortunately for Tara, Jade was in better shape, and, she decided to cheat. A little pink light was all that was needed.

Tara yelped when she suddenly tripped. She started getting to her feet, when Jade's combat boot slammed onto her back. "Yeep!"

Jade grinned evilly. "You know what I'm going to do to you." Tara's eyes widened in horror.

"Don't! You'll regret it Jade!" She only smirked in reply.

"Time to pay!"

Tara howled in terror, and at a last-ditch effort called to Kory for help. Unfortunately, Kory decided it would be too much fun to see what would happen to Tara to interfere.

"Nooo!" Tara tried to scoot away in vain. "Anything but the TST!" Jade had already gone in for the kill. Tara was on the ground, helplessly rolling around and shrieking. Her shoulders were shaking, tears were rolling down her cheeks, and her lungs gasped for air. Then…

"Jade." A monotone voice broke through Jade's concentration. "That's enough."

Tara collapsed onto the couch wearily. She nodded to Rachel in thanks. TST, otherwise known as the ten second tickle was torture for any ticklish person. Tara glared at Jade. That was _much_ longer than ten seconds!

"Rachel, why'd you ruin my fun? It was well-deserved too since you know what she roped me into." Jade complained casting a sideways glance to Tara.

"No powers." The empath replied. "We cannot use our powers." At that everyone became silent, thinking back on their youthful teenage days when they were the heroes of Jump City. That had not lasted when they were blamed for constantly destroying the city, and costing the people millions in tax dollars.

The problems cannonballed as people became famous for saying that they were beaten up by Robin or some hero, that their powers were the cause of some of the natural disasters that regularly occurred in the city (Reference to "The Marked" by .X.Phoenix.X.)

Those good days were long over. Every hero had to melt back into the crowd, assume normal identities, and keep their powers hidden. Only a few remained in contact, years after _that_ had occurred.

Starfire, Raven, Terra, and the reformed Jinx were the only ones that they knew of who had kept in touch. Everybody else, had just disappeared along with their past.

"Now." Rachel said quietly. "Who wants some tofu burgers?" At everybody's weird look, she turned red quickly explaining it was Beastboy's birthday. Everybody nodded in understanding, but still…a simultaneous no broke throughout the room. Rachel smiled.

"Yeah, I think I'll pass." And she scraped the burned tofu burgers into the garbage can.

"Now." Jade cracked her knuckles. "Back to business. It's time for a little interrogation." Tara groaned, but got ready to run.

Kory interrupted, feeling sorry she got Tara into the mess.

"It was all our faults," then feeling Rachel's hostile aura surround her, Kory admitted, "Okay, mostly mine and Tara's, but really Jade, it was in your best interests." She protested. "After Cyborg betrayed you…"

Jade's eyes narrowed. It was a pretty good indication that she didn't want to hear anymore. But, Kory was never good at catching hints.

"….you always scare off all the guys with really good potential, and this was the perfect opportunity, because," Kory beamed happily, "with this picture, it's not as if you can quit the show!"

Jade's mouth dropped.

"Yes, Jade," Rachel continued. "It's called blackmail. I didn't get any ideas about putting you in The Bachelor, or mailing in all the information, but," she smirked, "I made sure you couldn't quit."

Tara took this opportunity to tell Jade the good news.

"But you know…the guy's hott!" Then she was off, out the door, and down the stairs of the apartment building with Jade on her heels.

Loud cheers and raucous laughter came from the leather couches in the gigantic mansion of Star City. They were congratulating a red-haired, cocky man for being chosen to be the bachelor of a T.V. show, The Bachelor. It helped that longtime friend Victor Stone was dating a friend of the host. Yep, it definitely helped.

Tonight, Wally West was the center of attention, and he was soaking it all up. He thought back to the arguments he had with his Uncle Barry, about someday getting his inheritance, and all that (the Wests were very rich), yet in order to get it, he had to marry somebody, and settle down.

At twenty-five, he was far from maturity, only looking to have fun. He didn't want to marry, he didn't like commitment, and besides, what was wrong staying single? He grinned remembering the disastrous attempts of his Uncle trying to introduce him to other girls of his family status. He had scared them off, with only a few harmless pranks. But, he did want that inheritance, so his Uncle had finally entered him in the Bachelor, reluctantly.

He grinned. He intended to marry a girl, a gorgeous girl of course, and then divorce her after he got the inheritance. He had seen these shows hundreds of times; they never worked out. Why should his?

He'd be single _and _rich. For now, life was good. In only a few days, he'd be surrounded by girls who would flirt shamelessly with him, what more could a guy ask?

Good, bad? An opinion would be nice…


	2. Pink Hair

**Chapter 2**

_The disclaimer (kind of forgot it before) - I don't own Teen Titans_

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Garfield Logan watched Wally quietly out of the corner of his eye. He was the only one who didn't join in on the boisterous laughter, which was unusual to say the least. After all, wasn't he the clown? The hilarious one? But… he had a serious side, and times like this brought it out.

Ever since the Teen Titans had disbanded, Wally had gone into a stage of utmost carelessness with absolutely no handle on responsibility. How Uncle Barry expected Wally to marry anybody just proved all the Wests were spontaneous or insane. Either will do.

Gar knew that he missed the old days, but did Wally? He never showed any sign that it bothered him at all, as if the problem slid off him to someone else. He had asked once, only once, Kid Flash had answered, "Those days are over, Gar." _Not Beastboy, Gar._ He had never asked about it again.

He sighed. He wanted the old gang back together again; he wanted to see _Raven _again. But no use wondering about the past, that was all it was, the past. The best he could do right now was laugh. Laughing was his cure to everything.

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Grumbling, Jade began throwing clothes randomly into an unzipped duffel bag on the floor. She never did like suitcases, and in five minutes, her entire wardrobe was packed. She didn't have many outfits.

Now. She was ready. With her black combat boots, striped stockings, and her pink hair up in their signature pigtails, she stepped outside her room, and looked in the full-length hall mirror. She nodded at herself in approval. _Very _edgy chic. Wait. After she flung a purple-black striped scarf around her neck to compliment her black long-sleeved shirt, and black cut-off capris (yes, capris over striped stockings), she sauntered down the hallway for breakfast.

As soon as she appeared, she was instantly given a dose of Rachel's magic as she was levitated into the air inside a ball of energy. Immediately, Jade felt ticked off, and wasn't afraid to let her know.

"I _thought_ you said no magic. _Raven._" Jade growled, trying to let herself out with hexes.

"Don't you mean Rachel? Besides, I'm a demon's daughter, I have an excuse for breaking the rules." At this Jade spluttered in anger. _She _was a demon's daughter? Well, she used to be a villain _and_ a bad-luck witch. Two against one. Hah.

"Besides!" Kory was all smiles. She always was. "It's fun to dress you up, and you wouldn't let us do that to you, intentionally!"

"Yep." Tara rolled up her sleeves in anticipation. It would be a nice payback from yesterday.

"Now what should Jade wear…" Kory eyes grew bigger and bigger. "Should she wear this outfit of hello kitties or this dress made of feathers from peacocks that looks exactly like the one in style on the planet of Tameran, or…."

The ball of dark magic blew up, and a furious Jade was radiating pink energy. Rachel blinked. Jade had never been able to do this before, she must be really angry.

"I am going to wear _this_." Nobody argued. Not even Rachel.

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Jade looked around at the fancily decorated room in the private jet she was taking to Star City. She chuckled in amusement as she remembered her friends' stunned faces as the jet landed in front of the apartment building with the banner "The Bachelor" hanging from it.

Served them right for trying to switch her outfits this morning. She smirked; the perks to being a contestant weren't really all that bad. She looked out the window, nothing interesting there. She took out her Walkman and listened to music for the rest of the ride.

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Wally was entertaining the contestants who had arrived early that morning to try to get an edge in his interest. Actually, coming early for the advantage must have been the plan for nearly every woman in the contest, but Wally didn't mind at all with the amount of attention he was receiving. It wasn't long before he noticed a new contestant had just walked in, a lovely one at that. He decided it would be rude not to greet her.

"Hello." Wally flashed his brilliant smile. "I'm the bachelor, Wally West. So nice to meet you." He bent to kiss her outreached hand. As he did so, the woman giggled on cue.

"I'm Jessica Philips." Her voice chimed softly. Wally observed her slowly. Blonde hair, blue eyes, soft pink lips. He would love to get to know her. And as was his typical way…

"I for one would love to get to know you, Miss Philips." He winked, making her blush prettily. He groaned seeing another contestant enter the room. "Most unfortunately, duty calls, a new contestant has just walked in, I must greet her. I'll be with you in just a moment." With another one of his smiles, he walked off, satisfied with his charming self.

Now, for this new contestant…the last one too. He looked at her outfit, what a weird style of clothing. Capris over striped stockings? And pink hair? Why couldn't women just keep their hair natural?

"Hello." Another perfect smile. "I'm Wally West, the bachelor. Very pleased to meet you." The girl stared stonily back at him. He frowned, had he said something wrong? No…he had not. At the awkward silence, he decided to comment on her unusual hair color as charmingly as he could. "Nice hair." He dimpled.

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Jade scowled.

"What." It was once again, a statement, not a question. She had just walked in, and the guy starts hitting on her - what nerve.

"Nice…hair?" Inside his mind, Wally was in chaos. He was tearing his hair out, and little Wallys were running around in circles screaming. The impossible had happened. He had dimpled and the girl did not melt in puddles at his feet.

"You think its fake, don't you." Saying so, Jade stalked off. Meanwhile, he was unable to speak. She had read him like a book. Wait…the hair's not fake? Whoa.

"Hold up…" Wally ran after her, and then struck a pose when he had caught up. "I'm Wally West, the bachelor of the show you're on…" he waggled his eyebrows as a hint, but still, no dice. She was obviously unimpressed.

"Yeah, you told me that already." Jade watched the boy deflate tremendously. How amusing.

Wally was getting very frustrated. What was she doing on this show? She wasn't flirting, she wasn't even friendly, and she had made him chase her across the room…what was going on? His face brightened as a light bulb went off in his head.

"You're playing hard to get, aren't you?" Wally smirked. Jade's eyes widened in shock. Oh, she was going to wipe that smug look off his face. _Smack. _

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_Okay…so I was planning to make this longer, but I wanted to end it like that. And just a note, I don't normally update in a day, I was just insanely happy with how many reviews I got. Thanks you guys!_


	3. Will You Accept This Rose?

**Chapter 3**

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Wally thought he had her pegged; all figured out. He thought that she was playing hard to get. Well, he smiled wryly, he thought wrong. When he saw her hand coming toward him, he knew he could have blocked it. He had reflexes the speed of light, but he didn't. Why?

He guessed that he simply couldn't comprehend the idea of a girl slapping him.

Him, being slapped? It was purely impossibility. Or, it used to be anyway.

He rubbed his cheek ruefully. That girl slapped _hard_. He guessed, that slap proved that she was insulted to hear that she was playing hard to get, but if she wasn't, what was she doing? She sure didn't impress him with that attitude. Very…female doggish.

He finally noticed the cameras, the contestants, and most of all, the girl that started it all. When she had slapped him, his mind had automatically put everything on pause, but now, seeing the looks on everyone's faces…how humiliating. His cheek was throbbing, and he could _feel_ his ears pulsing, felt them turn red, as red as his hair. Nobody made a fool out of Wally West, especially not...not…who _was_ she anyway? She hadn't even told him her name.

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Jade noticed the shocked silence after the sound of her slap resounded throughout the room. She glanced at the cameramen, pity they didn't get this on film. She grinned; they were probably kicking themselves for missing this moment on the show. It would have brought huge public attention. Too bad, she was going to have to leave in the first cut; she made sure that West would absolutely hate her. A blow to anyone's ego was tough. Especially, his.

Seeing him still gaping, she began to study her fingernails. Hmm…she needed a new paint job.

"What's your name?" She looked up at one ticked off Wally West. "And even more, what are you even doing on this show? And I'll let you know," Wally decidedly mentioned, "You're _not_ giving me a good first impression."

Jade looked at him with a smirk. He was still rubbing a red handprint on his face. She knew she slapped hard, and she was proud of her handiwork. He would never admit that it hurt, male pride, but, knowing that it did, was good enough for her.

"Jade Hex." She answered simply. The bachelor didn't have to know that her friends blackmailed her into this mess or that she was glad she didn't give a good first impression. It was truly none of his business. She saw him visibly pause, his mind in concentration, then as if he was thinking better of it, he shook his head and remained silent, choosing instead, to turn around and walk out of the room.

_Hah_. Jade thought, triumphantly. _Giving up already, pretty boy_? It didn't matter though, it was all the better for her. She smirked right into the cameras. She had won; she had beaten her friends in their little game with some added publicity. Not bad, not bad at all. Unfortunately for Jade, she didn't know Wally West enough to realize he was giving up too easily. His ego was damaged enough, and he was going to make her pay.

Out of the room, the bachelor grinned. Miss Hex had dropped him the obvious. She didn't want to be here. What, did she think that he was brainless? She didn't want to win; she wanted to get off the show. He'd send his buddy Gar out to where she lived, to find out for himself why she was on this show in the first place. He _did _notice that she never answered his question. But in the meantime, he wouldn't cut her. Cutting her out of the show would be what she wanted, and he wasn't going to give her that satisfaction.

Tomorrow night, at the ceremony, he would offer Jade Hex a rose. He rubbed his hands in glee; he couldn't wait to see the expression on her face. It would be a classic.

Wally looked up at the clock. Only a couple hours before he could deliver that rose. He grinned, and opened his wardrobe, full of identical black tuxedos straight from the laundromat. He dressed in a random tux, and adjusted his tie. He glanced at the hands of the clock. Suddenly, waiting for tonight's ceremony became hard. Difficult, even. Since he wanted time to go by fast, it automatically moved slower. Wally groaned. Why was life so ironic? How was he supposed to blow off two hours?

He walked out of his room sullenly, and was greeted instantly by twenty-four women. All the contestants he noted, except the slapper. He noticeably perked up and flashed a smile to all the women. With all of them clamoring for his attention, the two hours would be up quickly. _Now where was Miss Philips? _

Wally saw her, and made his way over, to the envy of all the other contestants. He smiled appreciatively at the new dress that she wore. It flattered her figure very nicely. At his smile, Jessica looked up at him demurely. She was a favorite! She guessed that she was a shoo-in for tonight. She smiled happily back at him, pleased to be in his company.

In the midst of the bachelor flirting, two eyes narrowed in anger. She would show Wally that she could be just as fine company as that blonde. Pushing rudely past the other women, she approached Wally, her low-cut dress bringing his attention rather easily.

"I'm Mara Rouge." she smiled, presenting him with a small gift. "I hope you enjoy this. It's a cologne from Manhattan," she winked, "my particular favorite." It didn't take long for her to begin some full on flirting with the current bachelor. She wanted for him to give her a rose tonight. She was determined, and she would stop at nothing to win this contest, and get his money. When she wanted something, she was described by her peers as forceful. She contemplated this thought. Well, forceful or not, she would do what it would take to win. She would do anything.

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Jade was in her room with her sketchbook out. In the peaceful tranquility of a personal suite, and a comfortable window seat that looked out over a gorgeous view, it was the perfect time to draw.

"Let's see," Jade thought out loud, "watercolor or pencil?" She decided on pencil as she normally did; it brought out only the colors of black, white, and various shades of gray. It added a moody atmosphere to all her portraits. Deciding on what to draw was easy. Her latest obsession was unicorns, surprisingly. It wasn't something she would usually go for, but unicorns it was.

In her mind, she had already lain out the type of unicorn. Bashful, and sweet, a gentle dappled gray mare. Now the setting. Jade closed her eyes in concentration. This was harder; it had to match the personality of her main focus. There. Her pink eyes opened. An unfenced field on a starry night. No moon.

Now that she knew what she was doing, Jade started on her new drawing with gusto. In half an hour, she was finished. She stood back to admire her new unicorn, then collapsed back onto her comfy bed with deep satisfaction. She was always in a better mood after she drew, and, Jade looked at the clock cheerfully, she would be out of the show, and on her way home by tomorrow. She grinned. Now, what to wear…

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The rose ceremony. It was both dreaded and anticipated for all the contestants. For Wally West, he was unbelievably eager; he could hardly stand still. He had seen Jade Hex walk in, late as usual, wearing another one of her Jade originals: a long black dress which was ripped at the bottom into a shaggy design with torn sleeve ends, and of course her beloved combat boots, which were mostly hidden under the folds of her dress. Her hair, he noticed, remained in their pigtails. Best of all, she had a confident smirk on her face which he couldn't wait to personally wipe off.

Jade noticed his noticeable contentness surround the room. She wondered what he was so happy about. Whatever. It was time for the show's traditional 'sorry I cut you' speech.

As the other Bachelor seasons, Wally West delivered the same speech on how it was very difficult to choose the girls, and they all had held a special place in his heart. When he was finished, the contestants eyed him. He held ten roses. Ten roses for ten girls. Fifteen would be cut, unfortunately. Wally decided to set his mind on the task before him. The first rose he would give to…

"Jessica Philips." Wally grinned. "Will you accept this rose?" She nodded, her eyes shining. "Yes."

Nine roses left.

"Mara Rouge." After all, he did appreciate her little gift. Miss Rouge consented, although she seemed to be brooding. He thought maybe it was because he picked her second. He shrugged it off.

Eight roses.

He gave a rose to Katherine, Annabelle, Lina, Ahn, and Clarissa in that order.

One rose left. He could feel the tension in the room, thick and muggy. He looked at Jade, no expression. He made sure that wouldn't last. With a smirk he announced his final choice.

"Jade Hex. Will you accept this rose?" He smiled in clear amusement when her nonchalant demeanor dropped. Jade frantically replayed his words in her mind, shocked to discover she had heard him correctly. What had just happened here?

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A/N: I guess you guys didn't expect the part about Madame Rouge? Just pretend she's only a couple years older…say 27.


	4. Ahn

**Chapter 4**

_A note: As someone very wisely pointed out…Madame Rouge is too old, so it should be her daughter Gemini a.k.a. Mara de Mille. Now that makes more sense. And Mara would have her mother's shape-shifting powers, am I right? sweat drops If I'm wrong about that too…please correct me._

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Jade took a deep breath to calm herself. Okay. Address the situation. What had just happened here? Wally West had just offered her a rose, after she had slapped him, in front of everybody. Total shock was the only word that could describe the state she was in.. Jade wore a dazed expression on her face, all traces of her confidence gone. Eventually she turned to stare blankly at him, the bachelor, why had he chosen her again?

Wally smirked. It had been perfectly executed on his part.

"So," he asked her, "is that a yes?"

Jade didn't know what to say, accepting roses had always been the cause of some sort of trouble with her. She had told herself that she wouldn't make that same mistake again, and this time wasn't any different. Right? She nodded to herself furiously. Right. (A/N: That, not my idea. Meiriona's.)

She frowned. Cyborg. He had betrayed her. He had gained her trust; he had stolen her heart, and then betrayed her. Victor Stone, she scoffed, part-time hero, part-time actor. While they had gone out, he had developed a crush on a fellow actress on the set, Sarah Sims, who had played a romantic lead with him as Sarasim, in a scene that occurred in ancient times. He had dumped her, and gone out with "Sarah" soon after. She sneered. That whole affair had started with roses too. Recalling this painful memory caused Jade's prime defense mechanism to flare up. Her rage.

Wally stepped back in surprise as Jade began trembling in anger. She had gotten over her initial shock now, and was ready to start a screaming match. Did he think she wouldn't guess that he did this to spite her? Just look at him smirk. Well guess what, she was going to refuse that rose, and get out of this show. Nothing would stop her.

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Rachel, Tara, and Kory were all sitting on the sofa, watching The Bachelor with a big bowl of popcorn on their laps.

Kory was starry-eyed. "He asked her! He asked her!" Tara on the other hand seemed the calmer of the two, quietly munching popcorn she stuffed in her mouth. Reading her mind, Rachel discovered that Tara was trying to figure out what made the bachelor pick Jade, dressed in a lab coat and surrounded by beakers.

Turning back to the television screen, Rachel saw Jade's expression and decided that a little interference was more than necessary. She went into the witch's mind and displayed the embarrassing photograph blown up to a gigantic size. That should be able to do it. Satisfied, Rachel watched to see how Jade would handle this.

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Wally noticed her trembling, and cringed, waiting for some kind of shrieking in his ear. Hearing nothing, he cautiously looked at Jade. Her hands were clenched, and her eyes seemed to be faintly glowing pink. He squinted; how weird.

He started in surprise when she snatched the rose out of his hand, and stalked out silently, a confetti of mysteriously shattered glass strewn about in her path. Hmm. He thought. So she had accepted.

He wiped his brow in mock relief. Now, that was over with. He turned around and was faced with a mob of angry women who he had cut. All of them being held back by some of his bodyguards and cameramen. _Heh. Heh. _He began to walk out of the room backwards, his hands up in defense. "I'm sorry ladies." he apologized weakly. He was bombarded with replies.

"I'll never forgive you Wally West! You'll regret this, for life!"

"I would have been much better for you than those other women!"

"You've emotionally scarred me for life! Do you hear me! Do. You. Hear. Me?"

"Good bye Wally!" he heard a sob, "I'll miss you!"

Wally escaped from the commotion quickly. Women these days! He slid to a stop spotting Jade holding a similar rose as the one she had received, the difference being, this one was burnt to a crisp. No longer was there a beautiful red rose, but an ashen gray plant with a faint scent of smoke.

"Whoa," he commented on the flower's appearance, "What happened there?" Jade spun around. It was _him_. She strode toward him, her footsteps seeming to bust holes in the carpet. She started prodding him in the chest.

"You. You. You." she spluttered. She stopped, no amount of words would be able to describe her anger. Wally grinned. Ha. Ha. He considered rubbing it in her face, but he sighed, patting his hair. He was too much of a gentleman.

"The other contestants are in that room over there," he pointed, "celebrating." Jade stared at him. In defeat she nodded glumly, and headed off toward the room he directed, but not before dropping the dead plant at his feet. She tossed her head and smirked, openly challenging him to another round.

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Jade stood in the fancily decorated room, arms crossed, and a scowl across her face. The other contestants were gossiping among themselves that she had been picked out of pity or some other stupid reason. Maybe they didn't realize that she could hear _everything they were saying_. Her scowl deepened.

She tapped her foot impatiently, and cast a sly glance at the contestants. She decided to analyze them. The first one who had received the rose, Jessica Philips. At the moment, a high-pitched giggle interrupted her thoughts. She rolled her eyes. Guess who. So Jessica was the typical blonde.

Next. Mara de Mille. French, maybe? Jade examined her over the top of her Coke can. She looked familiar, but from where…her mind drew a blank. That woman's eyes held jealously, and bitterness. She wasn't someone to be trusted. Jade decided it would be in her interest to not cross her. It wouldn't be smart.

She turned to the twins. Sharon and Shirley. Why they would both go on this show was something she could not comprehend. At any rate, they were very close. If the bachelor had any compassion he would cut them off the show next time. Otherwise, their sisterly bond might be ruined over a guy. Even over a guy like Wally West. She rolled her eyes.

Katherine, Annabelle, Lina, Clarissa. Typical girls. They were nice and pretty, but nothing too out of the ordinary. She would be surprised if one of them would win the bachelor's hand in marriage. Was that all? Jade recounted. Jessica, Mara, Sharon, Shirley, Katherine, Annabelle, Lina, Clarissa, and herself. Only nine. She was told all the bachelorettes had come.

A tap on her back made her whirl around in an automatic fighting stance. It was the tenth contestant, the Asian. She relaxed, quickly regaining composure. She stuck out a hand.

"Jade." She respected anybody who had the abilities to come up to her unnoticed. Not many.

"Ahn." The only Asian contestant accepted her handshake and added pressure. She had a good strong grip. Sensing a challenge, Jade slowly smiled, and squeezed the girl's hand tighter. In a minute, the two were staring eye to eye, noting any weakness in the other's grip. There were none. When both their knuckles had turned white from prolonged pressure, they released their hands simultaneously.

Seeing Ahn grin, Jade felt herself slowly smile. They had become instant friends. Shooting a glance at Ahn, Jade felt compelled to ask.

"How did you sneak up on me?" correcting herself, Jade continued, "It's been a while since anybody has been able to." Leaning in closer as to prevent the others from overhearing, Ahn simply stated.

"It's part of my job description to be able to move around unnoticed." Jade nodded. It made sense, but…she narrowed her eyes, Ahn wasn't telling her everything. Seeing Jade's unbelieving expression, Ahn lowered her voice. "You're right. I'm not telling the whole truth," She paused, "do you know who I am?" At Jade's bewildered glance, she smirked, "I guess reformed villains don't pick up on things as well, Jinx." Jade's eyes widened. For the second time today, she had found herself at a loss for words..

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_A/N: So I introduced another person. Anyone guessed who she is? _


	5. Gar and Airplanes Don't Mix

**Chapter 5**

_I guess I gave too many hints because most people guessed who it was. _

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Jade narrowed her eyes. Who _was_ she? At her digging remark about reformed villains, she was obviously a villain herself. Or used to be in the days of heroes. Stepping back, Jade studied her. _Cheshire_. It had to be her. Cheshire was the dangerous assassin of Asia; gifted with the art of poison, martial arts, and a sneaky way of moving around. The reason that she had not recognized her instantly was that she had always seen Cheshire in a mask. So, her name was Ahn. Ahn Ngyuen.

Noticing Jade's hostile expression, Ahn ventured a smile. It wasn't as if they were enemies anymore. If they were going to be something like acquaintances, Jade was going to have to make the next move.

"So," The pink-haired witch broke the silence. "What have you been up to these days?"

She realized she could really use a friend in the show. "Want to talk in my room?"

At her invitation, Ahn smirked. "There's nothing I would like better."

In reaching Jade's suite, Ahn attached a small metal device to the doorframe. Jade nodded, impressed; it was hard to believe that this little doohickey was a hi-tech part of an assassin's gear, often used to detect the coming and going of people in a ten feet radius. Total privacy.

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Gar grumbled angrily. It was just like Wally to spend the day with beautiful girls, and send him to go to some unknown city to pry into the life of some contestant. As the airplane began to descend, he heard a steward's voice telling the crowd to buckle their seatbelts. Gar groaned loudly, and covered his ears with as many pillows as possible. He had specially gathered those pillows during the flight to prepare for this exact moment. His ears always popped rather painfully. He saw a little girl with pigtails staring at him, the man with ten pillows on each ear. He glared making her turn quickly away.

The airplane started its descent. 1..2..3...Gar counted softly…4...5...6..He peeked out the window. This was…amazing! His ears weren't hurting. He wasn't in pain! Ah, so ten pillows was the answer. He grinned at his brilliance.

Suddenly he felt himself tip forward. _What was happening…?…uh oh. His seatbelt, he forgot to…_His stomach lurched at the thought of the pain he would have if he let go of the pillows he had pressed tightly against his ear. _Maybe he wouldn't need a seatbelt. _Gar congratulated himself quietly. There was no way he was going to let these pillows go.

A shadow loomed above him. Gulp. It was a huge stewardess. What was she saying? He couldn't hear her, she was pointing to his seatbelt. He shook his head vehemently. No. No way. He had been a perfectly fine passenger the whole plane ride. They should just let it be.

In a minute, more and more stewardesses crowded around his seat, prying his hands off the pillows. Plop. The pillows fell away and landed everywhere. He began panicking. Just then, the plane continued descending, this time at a steeper rate. Gar fell forward at the sudden tilt and bopped his head on the seat before him. He fainted.

At this the entire stewardess' simultaneously groaned. These passengers could sometimes be so bothersome.

Gar squinted; so much light. Where was he? Was he in…heaven? He heard voices.

"People must be moronic not to have their seatbelts on."

Nope. He wasn't in heaven.

"I must admit, I have never had a patient because of _this_."

Gar glared. He waved his arms to get their attention.

"Hellooo. I can hear you." He called out.

"Oh. He's awake." Gar turned to the speaker, she didn't seem pleased.

"What happened?" He asked in a small voice. He didn't remember, only that he was on a plane, and the stewardess' took his very important pillows. After that, no idea.

"You didn't have your seatbelt on, and when the plane tilted you fell over, hit your head, and fainted."

Gar scoffed. What was she talking about? Men didn't faint. Men were tough.

"Ow." Tears came to his eyes when the woman poked the rather large bump on his head.

Okay, he admitted it. Maybe he _did_ faint, but he only believed it because men weren't supposed to cry either.

After a none too friendly interrogation with the airplane's personnel, he was charged with an additional two hundred bucks for the hospital bill. He stared at the measly pocket change he had left. Those people had stripped him bare! His eyes shifted to his wallet. There had been credit cards in there, credit cards he could have used right now, before good old Dick Grayson had told him he had a problem and sent them through the paper shredder. Roy Harper had helped. He said it was fun.

Fun. Well, how was fun supposed to help him now? Gar thought angrily. An idea came to him. He looked around warily, and then ran behind a warehouse. Dick and Roy and the rest of the guys better not hold this against me, Gar thought while he transformed. In a few seconds, a green alley cat could be seen running down the street.

Gar felt a great tension leave him. For years he wasn't allowed to transform, but this was him, a big part of him. Connecting to this part of himself was something he missed greatly. He considered changing again, to a tiger maybe, but no, a green cat was conspicuous enough.

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"Are you telling me you're still an assassin?" In Jade's suite, the two girls were talking about their pasts, and Ahn had just slipped that she was still a villain.

"Part-time. It's the fastest way to make money; I'm not a very good lawyer. I suck." Ahn laughed easily. After all, she was pretty bad at debating. The only reason she had become a lawyer was she considered everything else kind of _blah_.

"But…" Jade trailed off in shock. Ahn was still _Cheshire_? Technically, she didn't have powers, like Robin, but still… And was she supposed to associate with villains?

"To tell the truth," Ahn continued, "I don't like it, it's like a job you don't enjoy, you do it because you have to, for the money, not because you want to. That's why I'm on this show. I marry this rich guy, and I'm done. I don't have to be Cheshire as a living." She smiled. "But the thing is, I _am_ a very talented assassin. Almost a shame to give it up, even for a hot red-headed guy."

"You sure don't have an ego, do you?" Jade remarked sarcastically.

"Eh. I've been told that," she smirked, "What do _you_ think about this guy? You can't deny he's gorgeous, especially with that red hair."

Seeing her sigh dreamily, Jade rolled her eyes. "Do you have this thing for redheads? You mentioned his hair color twice in two seconds."

"Hey," she held up her hands defensively, "I like guys with red hair, and for all I know, you could be changing the subject. Or not." Ahn hastily added after seeing her expression. She knew Jade back when they were both villains, and Jade, had a short fuse. Not smart to anger a friend with hex powers. "By the way, love the last name, Hex. It suits you."

At that, Jade instantly became pleased. It wasn't unusual for her to have sudden mood changes. This was just one of many. "Thanks. But," she added, "don't sugarcoat the compliments to get on my good side. I don't appreciate people who suck-up."

"You're not the only one in here who thinks that."

The two looked at each other. Mutual agreement was a good thing.

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Gar panted as he ran on the crowded sidewalks. Why a dogcatcher was chasing him, a cat was beyond what he could comprehend. He couldn't change into a bird or back into a human here. There would be too many witnesses. As of right now, all he could do was run and avoid this man like the plague. He yowled when a passing stranger accidentally stepped on his tail. How did he get himself into these situations?

Wait. He skid to a stop. That stranger, his mind processed this new thought tentatively, that was _Raven_.

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_I put a lot of Beastboy in this. Hope you enjoyed!_


	6. Meeting Beanen Brusselsprouts

**Chapter 6**

Raven. Gar almost didn't want to believe it. It would be too much to hope for, but that girl, she looked so much like her. Glancing over his shoulder, he considered his options.

He could keep running, escape, transform back, and get hopelessly lost, penniless. Or he could keep running, get caught by the dogcatcher, and be put to sleep because nobody wanted a green cat. Or he could introduce himself to this fine young lady, who could get him away from that _man_ and bring him home with her. Add the fact that the lady might be Raven…well, it certainly was a no-brainer. He jumped.

He landed right next to her, and began purring, weaving himself between her legs. Rachel looked mildly surprised.

"A cat." _A very random green cat. _Memories from a decade ago began to piece together, and her mind clicked. _Beastboy… _A hand tapped her shoulder. It was an animal control officer.

"Ma'am, is he yours? If he isn't, we'll have to take him to the shelter." Rachel looked down, if this wasn't whom she thought it was, she sweat dropped; anyway, Kory would love him.

"Yes, yes he is." She mumbled hesitantly. The man raised his eyebrows at her suspiciously.

"Here BB." she said in monotone. Gar trotted over to her instantly.

"What does BB stand for?" He did not plan to make this easy for her. Rachel groaned, saying Beastboy would not be smart. B…B…

"Beanen Brusselsprouts." She heard herself saying. She wanted to smack herself. Beanen Brusselsprouts? The man nodded reassured. That certainly made sense, and he walked off on his merry way.

"Hey, you," Rachel stared down at the small green cat. "You have a lot of explaining to do." In a moment, Rachel and Beanen Brusselsprouts never seemed to have been in the area. The people looked at each other with confused stares. It was as if the two had disappeared into thin air. In reality, Rachel had called upon her powers to transport them in a shadow to the apartment for quick transportation. This was important news.

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To the surprise of the other contestants, Jade and Ahn had hit it off. It was a cause of gossip as no one had anything else to talk about. Gossiping was their way to relieve the tension, and today, the contestants would receive the date boxes. It consisted the names in the group dates, and decided who would be on the individual date.

The sound of the key turning caught everyone's attention, and Mara de Mille came into view holding the date box. She was immediately surrounded by women, all eager to open the box. Slowly, as if to build the suspense, Mara lifted the top of the box. All the women leaned forward. The contents of the box contained four sheets of paper along with four objects. The objects being a Star City Speedsters baseball cap, a helmet, a toy ferris wheel, and a flower. Mara read the four lists aloud.

"The first group date," she cleared her throat, "Shirley, Sharon, and Jade. The second group date, Katherine, Annabelle, Ahn, the third, Lina, Clarissa, and myself, Mara. And for the individual date, Jessica.

Jessica nodded carefully. She knew if she didn't receive a rose on this date, she would be sent home. On the other hand, if she did, she would be home free during the next rose ceremony. She had to make Wally like her on the date, or else she would go home. She massaged her forehead trying to relieve her stress.

The other girls immediately began conversation on where they would go. A Star City Speedsters baseball cap was no doubt a clue that one group would go to the baseball stadium with the bachelor.

The helmet indicated something with wheels? The mini ferris wheel probably meant the amusement park, and a flower led to the botanical gardens. On the lid of the box, the host had also graciously written that three women would go home at the end of all the dates. Jade and Ahn stood side by side, arms crossed. They didn't make any comment. Jade glanced at the twins. They looked worried. She grinned, they should be, they were competing against each other for the same guy; why were they on this show again? She shook her head. Oh how dumb some people could be.

"What time is it?" At that, all the women looked up at the clock, and began panicking. They needed to get ready for their dates! Sharon and Shirley looked crazed; their group was the first date. Eyeing each other, they both rushed up to their rooms. No doubt they would be trying to outdo their counterpart.

Jade sauntered up to her suite. Casual would be nice she decided. All of these hints didn't really lead to something that was really dressy. She decided to wear what she wore on the day she arrived. Black with striped stockings and a striped scarf. It was one of her favorite outfits. Besides, being autumn, it could get chilly.

Stepping outside, she raised an eyebrow. Whoa.

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"A cat! Rachel, I didn't know you were a cat person!" Tara exclaimed. "He's so cute!"

"Come here little cat," Kory crooned, "Auntie Kory has some yummy food for you!" She looked puzzled when the cat seemed to…cringe?

Rachel heaved a deep sigh. "Are you guys seriously telling me, that you think there are green cats running around everywhere?" They looked at her silently. Tara communicated their feelings in one word.

"Huh?"

"It's _Beastboy._" Rachel said emphasizing his name. Tara and Kory's head whipped around staring at Gar who had now transformed back from a cat.

"Hehe. Surprise." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Immediately he was glomped by Tara and Kory, whom were both squealing with this pleasant surprise. Turning to Rachel, he grinned.

"Beanen Brusselsprouts? What kind of a name is that?"

"A name for a green vegetarian," she said scowling, "but welcome back." she added as an afterthought. Tara interrupted Rachel's moody act, by asking Gar a question.

"What brings you here?" Everybody turned to him, as he laughed rather uneasily.

"It's kind of a funny story," he began, "By the way, is Jade Hex, by any chance, Jinx?"

"Yes," Rachel stared at him intently, "but where did you meet her?"

"Um, the bachelor of that show, he's a friend of mine. Actually you guys all know him, he's Wally West, the Kid Flash…" he waggled his eyebrows, "Get it?"

Kory shook her head. "I do not know of this Kid Flash. Who is he?"

"He was new," Gar replied, "But anyway, he was a hero, and as his 'good old friend' he sent me for some background research on Jade. By the way, I'm curious, why is she on this show again? She kind of slapped him."

Rachel smirked. Tara smiled. Kory giggled uncontrollably.

"Blackmail."

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Jade cautiously walked over to Ahn around the ring of women surrounding Sharon and Shirley.

"What did I miss?"

Ahn smirked. "Catfight as you can tell. Fun to watch isn't it?"

The bachelorettes began egging the twins on, both of which were pulling each other's hair, slapping, scratching, and screaming when the bell rang. Immediately the commotion stopped, as Mara got up to answer the door.

"Hello ladies…" Wally West paused as he looked at the twins. "Perhaps I'll give you two another minute," he smiled at them. As he turned to leave, he mumbled to himself, "or an extra hour." After all, the twins had really gotten into it; their hair mussed, and dresses ripped. They would need all the time they could get.

Stepping outside, Wally felt a sudden gust of wind, and with it a note. Upon opening it he rolled his eyes. It was from dear old Uncle Barry.

_Only ten girls left. So have fun being a bachelor while it lasts._

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_I really hope this met everybody's expectations. Thanks for all your reviews! _


	7. Cotton Candy

**Chapter 7**

Jade scowled. This was _boring. _Not to mention annoying. She figured anybody who had to watch twins flirting with a guy nonstop would find it getting old. Oh goody. The cotton candy shop. She roughly pushed Shirley who was in her way. Seeing her miffed expression, Jade stared at her, causing her to shift her gaze. _What? _Jade reasoned with herself, she deserved that anyway.

Plunking a couple of dollar bills onto the countertop, she grabbed a bag of cotton candy and left. Pink cotton candy. Her favorite. Taking bits of it, she carefully placed it in her mouth, savoring its sweet and sugary goodness as it melted. Mmmm. She closed her eyes in delight. Cotton candy was the world's greatest invention.

"Hey, could I have some of that? It looks good." Someone said, interrupting her state of bliss. She stared him down, or tried to. She couldn't understand it, how could she not be able to stare him down! Who was it you ask? Wally West of course.

Seeing her staring at him, he took it upon himself, to decide whether or not she meant yes or no. He took the yes. He casually plucked the bag of cotton candy out of her hands, and began munching happily, offering some to Sharon and Shirley at the same time.

His mouth full of pink cotton candy, he asked Jade, "Do you want some?"

"Eeeeyah!" Some kind of primal screech answered him with a 'give me back my cotton candy' expression on her face. He laughed as he saw what seemed to be dark clouds gathering around Jade, and just to tick her off, he popped the last of the pinky goodness into his mouth. Glancing back at her, he noticed that the clouds crackled dangerously indicating lightning.

"Oh I'm sorry," he grinned, "Did you want this back?" He tossed an empty bag back to her, only a faint aroma indicating that there had once been cotton candy in it, five minutes ago. A sound of thunder came from the clouds that were surrounding Jade. Her eyes glowed, her power begging to be let loose. Her last sane thought was _good thing she wore sunglasses that day_.

And that was it. Jade was tearing down the path chasing Wally with only one goal: Get that idiot and bring him down.

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Gar doubled over laughing. Blackmail? They blackmailed her? That was genius! Absolutely genius!

When Gar began cracking up again, Kori decided it would take too long for him to stop laughing, and jumped in with a question. "Do you have any news of our friend? We painfully miss her."

"Tell me about how she slapped the bachelor!" Tara added excitedly; it must have been funny. (A/N: remember, the camera crew were kicking themselves for not getting her slapping him on film.)

"Wait, why did Wally give Jade a rose; she couldn't have gotten on his good side. It's impossible. She slapped him." Rachel wondered aloud.

"Yes, WHYYY!" Kori demanded. She loved all this drama; she began poking him, "Whyyy?" Poke, poke, poke.

Rubbing his arm, Gar began complaining, it was fun to draw out the story slowly, and make the audience wait. "Kori, my arm hurts too much. I can't talk right now, I need some sleep…"

"Or you could talk right now" Rachel said in a low, low tone.

"Yes, I agree." Tara said tossing some pebbles up and down in her hand menacingly. "These might really hurt." She looked at him pointedly, "If they were accidentally thrown at you."

"Guys, just…chillax. All right? I'll explain everything." Gar said casually. He winced, did that chillax really sound as lame as he thought it did?

"Chillax?" Tara echoed. She started laughing. "Maybe you shouldn't say that, you might save face."

"Maybe?" Rachel smirked. "Try never." Amidst her three friends, Kori looked around confusedly. What did chillax mean? She groaned. She missed out on something funny, _again. _Being from another planet, had its disadvantages.

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Wally West grinned so widely that even his eyes seemed to be laughing. He had no idea how fun this would be. Jade could never catch _him_. He was Kid Flash, the fastest guy alive, but she didn't know that, and that was what made it so fun. Occasionally, he would act as if he was tiring, and slow down until he was just out of her reach, and then speed up again, leaving her far behind. Her enraged shriek would make him laugh.

Whoops. There he went and tripped again. It was weird. He had been continuously tripping, and occasionally falling; that had never happened before. He looked down at his dirty jeans. He tended to fall in muddy places for some reason. Wally shrugged it off; it was probably because he was out of practice.

Cresting the top of a hill, he stopped and turned around. He hadn't heard a single rude comment from Jade since…well, a long time. Using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, he squinted to see if he could find a head of pink hair in the crowd of people. After all, they were at the amusement park. There were bound to be a lot of people on a day like this. Sharon and Shirley! His mind froze. He had completely forgotten about…oh wait, there's Jade! He now focused on this new discovery, conveniently forgetting about the twins. Again.

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There he was, standing there so full of himself. Jade glared at him while she took a breather. Gulping air, she leaned against a tree for support. She wasn't so keen on catching him anymore, she was just so exhausted. How did the guy keep running? She smiled wryly, although, he did manage to fall a couple times. _I wonder why…_Jade allowed herself a satisfied smile, which quickly faded.

What was she supposed to do now. She instinctively knew she couldn't catch him. He was just naturally faster she supposed, with a whole lot more endurance. She groaned aloud. What did she have to do to beat him? An idea bubble quickly rose in her head, which she just as quickly popped. No, she couldn't "accidentally" melt his shoes to the ground so he couldn't move. That would be too much bad luck. People would start questioning, and eventually trace it back to her, somehow. It was better to lay low.

"Hey!" she shouted to the redheaded boy on the hill. "Would it kill you to buy me some cotton candy?"

Before she fully realized it, Wally appeared in front of her. Seeing her unbelieving eyes of ' I cannot believe he got here so fast ' he decided to answer her unspoken question like a gentlemen.

"You could say I'm a track star." Wally smirked. "Oh, and yeah it might." At that Jade grabbed the front of his shirt, to threaten him, only to realize she was holding air. _Huh?_ She grabbed for him again, only to miss. Smoke came out of her ears. He had fast reflexes too? This was not fair. More of Jade's grabbing, punching, and kicking resulted in hitting nothing. Zilch.

Looking up at his laughing blue eyes, her temper went unchecked. Jade grabbed the nearest object next to her, a WATCH OUT - YOU MIGHT SLIP! sign, and slammed it on his head.

Wally went down like a rock. _Uh oh. _Jade looked worriedly around as people began whispering. Hoisting him onto a conveniently located wheelbarrow, she rolled him over to where she had seen Sharon and Shirley last. They would know what to do.

After a full ten minutes of wheeling around Wally, she finally spied the twins. She yelled at them to come help her, which she soon regretted. Upon meeting the twins, Jade was immediately greeted with accusations.

"What did you do to poor Wally?"

"You better not have hurt him." Sharon glared at her forcefully, "Come on Shirley, let's go find the park infirmary."

The two snobbishly walked away from her while carting the limp, unconscious Wally. Beginning to feel bad, Jade followed them through the amusement park.

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Wally woke up feeling very tired, with a dull throbbing coming from the back of his head. When he started to get up, he couldn't, he was weighted down by two objects. Sharon and Shirley to be exact. They had fallen asleep clutching to one of his arms. He smiled as he gently shook them, waking them up.

"Wally!" The two simultaneously launched themselves at him and hugged the bachelor as if they wouldn't ever get another chance. Looking at Jade over the top of their heads, he looked at her meaningfully.

She was leaning against the doorframe of the room uncomfortably. Seeing his glance, she figured she should apologize, and mumbled one. She was never big on apologies.

"What?" He cocked his head as if he was bad of hearing. "I couldn't hear you."

"Sorry." Jade snapped and left abruptly, leaving an awkward silence in her wake.

"She's such a rude little thing isn't she?" Looking down to his left, he saw Shirley eye him. "I would be so much better for you."

"What!" His head snapped to the right facing Sharon. "_I_ would be much better for you than my ugly little sister."

"Ugly? I'm your twin!"

"Ladies, ladies…" Wally interrupted the two smoothly, preventing another fight. When the three finally made it outside the infirmary they spotted Jade waiting for them, finishing a bag of pink cotton candy.

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_ once again…thanks for all your reviews._


	8. Spiders, Snakes, or Scorpions?

**Chapter 8**

"What?"

"I'm sorry." The girl shook her head, her brunette curls bouncing lightly. "I'm sorry, but I don't think this is working out Roy." Seeing his dejected expression, she tried to make the break-up easier by saying the cliché, "It's not you, it's me." In turn, making her now, ex-boyfriend feel worse.

"I don't get it." Roy Harper certainly did not understand it. He was the one who usually did the dumping, and now a girl who he thought he actually liked was dumping him.

"Look…" Her tone became desperate, "I got to go, can't we just be friends?" Her facial expression suddenly became pleasant, almost eager.

"Hey, Maria."

"Hey Tony." Roy turned around to see whom Maria was addressing. It was another guy! And he was…kissing her? His jaw dropped, what was happening? He saw his ex-girlfriend gently push _Tony_ away, whispering a not now, in a low tone.

"I get it now."

"Wait, Roy!"

It didn't matter. He walked away, ignoring Maria's cries. _Forget her_. _There are other girls out there, better girls, prettier girls. _He scoffed. He would have eventually broken up with her anyway, but still, how could she pick _that_ guy over him? He was the one with the great hair. She was missing out.

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The Scorpion. Jade's eyes slowly traveled from the ground to the top of the roller coaster's highest drop. She felt herself slowly paling, although it was hard to tell. People couldn't see her pale, not with her gray skin, on the other hand, when she blushed, talk about obvious.

Her breaths became quicker as she heard Shirley and Sharon excitedly talking to Wally about the ride. How it was the biggest thriller in the park yet. What was the matter with her? She had no problem taking on men three times her size. She had hexed Madame Rouge with ease. But this…this was different. Roller coasters were something she didn't think she could handle. Give her spiders and snakes any day.

"So, want to go on it?"

No. Jade didn't want to go on the roller coaster at all. Actually, maybe she'll ride the dinky choo choo train over there, way _way_ over there.

"YES!" The twins just had to be absolutely ecstatic. Jade just knew what the next question was going to be. And she knew she'd nod in consent because of her stupid pride. Why did those twins want to ride that monster anyway?

"How about you Jade?"

"Sure. Why not?" Inwardly Jade smacked herself repeatedly. _I knew it. I knew it. I knew it…_

"Great, let's go."

To her dread, Wally West led them to the front of the line, showing their "Bachelor" passes, and giving the attendant a hearty tip. The attendant ushered them through quickly and got them the first four seats of The Scorpion.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Sit up straight with your feet on the floor, and pull the safety down over your shoulders and buckle securely. If need of a question, it will be answered shortly."

The neon green safeties slowly descended onto Jade's shoulders. Its heaviness brought her a feeling of stability, but in the end, it wouldn't help her at all. She had been persuaded on enough roller coasters to know that. As the buckled clicked closed, Jade closed her eyes and waited. It would soon begin.

A flurry of whispers disrupted her. The twins were on either side of Wally, clutching his hands.

"This is going to be so fun…" Jade looked at Sharon with envy, no one had any idea how much she would give for this to _not_ leave her feeling weak. She hated feeling weak; it made her feel so helpless, like she couldn't take care of herself. As if she had to depend on someone else to protect her. _Ugh_. She shuddered, the day she would be a damsel in distress with a knight in shining armor to rescue her, would be never, she'd rather die. _Well…maybe if…_her train of thought was interrupted, when with a jolt, the ride started.

Jade's eyes widened, and her breaths came out in short gasps. This part was the worst, the part when the roller coaster inched up foot by foot up the metal mountain, each time bringing her closer to the inevitable drop.

_I hate roller coasters. I hate scorpions. I hate all fast and scary rides…I _

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!" A barrage of screams interrupted her thoughts as the ride began. Jade screwed her eyes shut and moaned amidst the noise. She couldn't scream aloud; usually that made it so much worse. As the Scorpion continued its descent, Jade clutched the metal handles on her safety, _I wish this was over_…

Snap. Crackle. Pop. With a groan of metal, the Scorpion stopped, mid-ride. Jade carefully opened one eye; she was sitting at a slant in mid-air. Seeing her glowing fingertips, she casually stowed her hands in her pockets. Oops. She must have wished too hard.

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"Come on Roy. You would have probably dumped her by the end of the month anyway."

"Vic, I do. Not. Get. Dumped. And besides, I really liked Maria, no joke." Roy added hastily after seeing his friend's look of disbelief stamped on his face.

"Yeah right." Vic rolled his eyes. "Sorry Roy, but you're a player. I doubt you're ever going to get a serious girlfriend. I don't think you'll like anyone enough. You have this mindset…that there are always going to be better girls out there. I don't know man, I think you're going to stay a permanent bachelor."

"Who knows, you might be wrong, you thought Jinx was the right girl for you." Roy casually mentioned, walking out of the room, "But you broke up with her for Sarah. Not the nicest thing to do buddy."

"Hey! Come back here and say that to my face like a MAN!"

Peering around the doorframe Roy smirked. "Sorry Vic, but I don't want to get pummeled, and I'm way faster than you, whoa!" Roy was kicked from behind, and held in a helpless fetal position by none other than expert martial artist Dick Grayson.

"Sorry Roy, but you know the rules, don't mention Jinx around Vic, it's…touchy."

"Touchy, smouchy, what's not fair is that I'm here helpless, while Vic gets to shred me to teeny tiny pieces while you watch. Why do you always have to be such a stickler?"

Dick's glower penetrated through the dark frames that he usually wore. Come to think of it, Roy had never seen him without them. Weird.

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"Yepp. We're probably all going to die. Why not? We're stuck here, there's something wrong with the machinery, and any second now, the automatic halt might malfunction, and we'll drop down the biggest thriller in the park to our deaths." After twenty minutes, Jade was starting to get bored with the whole thing. She couldn't move, she couldn't sit up straight, all there was to do was think about the possibilities, the good and the bad. Unfortunately, all her ideas were pessimistic, and Jade thought it would be fun to try them out aloud.

Her little speech gave way to glares. Harsh angry glares. People these days just didn't have a sense of humor. Looking to her right, she noticed Shirley seemed to be frightened, and judging from Wally's pained expression, she was crushing his hand. Jade raised an eyebrow.

"I was kidding." Shirley was obviously not convinced, when their cars slowly began to move. _Oh great, they're working again._ Jade shut her eyes tight to wait for the inevitable. "Don't…lose..control." she mumbled. It wasn't long before she began moaning again. It wasn't like her powers, which she could control, usually. In this ride, her stomach dropped, and dropped, and kept on dropping. She hated it. The Scorpion had finished the rest of its course perfectly.

Jade slowly blinked in a trance. It was over. Finally. She got up and walked down the ramp to the safe ground, a little wobbly at first, but she was soon back to her confident, sophisticated stance.

"You looked a little scared, Jade." The speaker was Sharon, who glanced at her nails when Jade looked at her. "It's funny, how someone who acts so tough, is reduced to moaning in a simple roller coaster ride."

Jade ignored her, seeing something else catch her interest. Two park officials had been walking toward their direction for a while now, and were slowing to a stop in front of her.

"Do we have a problem sirs?" Wally asked comically moving his eyebrows. Their answer shocked him into silence.

"We have reason to believe that this girl," he shifted his attention to Jade, "is a dangerous metahuman."

"What?" Jade sounded outraged. "What are you talking about? Who gave you pea-brained morons a badge in the first place?"

"This pea-brained moron has film footage of a pink energy radiating off your fingers and the Scorpion's machinery." He cuffed her hands. "Sorry ma'am, but until further investigation, you're coming with us." Jade's stomach dropped. _Rachel. She thought telepathically to the empath. I need your help, now._

As she was led away, Wally and the twins followed behind without a word. Wally's mind was thinking furiously. _Does that mean that Jade has powers? Well, if she is, then who IS she? I don't think she's a hero, the databases haven't said anything about a pink-haired girl. But then again, maybe she's one of the newer heroes? The ones that haven't gotten a chance to be added into the computer…Whatever the case, she needs my help. If she even has powers in the first place…_he smirked. _She'll be my damsel in distress._

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_I want to ask you guys what you'd like better. Longer chapters and slower updates? Shorter chapters, and faster updates? Or what I'm doing now. Please review! D_


	9. Bad Hair Day?

**Chapter 9**

Rachel had been in a peaceful trance, meditating when Jade's message entered her mind. Her eyes snapping open, she swiftly walked out of the large room. Jade could not be found out.

"Tara! Kory! Gar! I'm going out."

"How come?" It was Gar. It seemed that he had been taking a nap on one of the couches, unseen by Rachel, as she yelled that she was going somewhere. After all, he was rubbing his eyes. Rachel looked at him closely. His eyes looked tired, he must have had a fitful sleep. She would question him later. A thought trailed into her head, he has _very_ green eyes.She shook her head at herself.

"Jade is being suspected to have powers. I've got to go to do a little convincing." Gar threw his head back and laughed.

"Convincing? Yeah right. You're probably going to scare them into letting her go." Seeing her scowling, he backed off. "Not that it's bad or anything. Here, I'll come with you." Scribbling a note to Kory and Tara that they were doing something, he held out an arm. "Will you accompany me, Miss Rachel?" he grinned as she just looked at him strangely. He tried to give her a hint, "You're _supposed_ to curtsy and say, gladly, Sir Gar." He looked at her hopefully.

"Um, no." She glanced at him impatiently. "Come on. We've got to go to Jade _now_." Closing her eyes, she chanted softly. "Azerath, metrion, zinthos…" After a few seconds had passed, she opened her eyes in confusion. Nothing had happened. Seeing Gar's puzzled expression, she answered his unspoken question. "I don't know. It's as if someone was blocking my aura." Her forehead creased in thought. It was as if, someone _didn't_ want her to go to Jade. She pushed past Gar, and began sprinting. "We have to catch the next flight out of here."

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A voice penetrated the darkness in the room. "I am sorry leetle one, but I cannot let you interfere just yet."

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Jade heaved a sigh, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Her back to the wall she slid down to a sitting position, her head in her knees. There wasn't much of a view in a two-by-two yard glass cubicle, which by the way could withstand even Kory's most powerful star bolts. She glanced toward her left, where the oh so popular bachelor was standing, watching her. Irritated by it all, she snapped at him.

"What are you looking at?" She turned away to count the tiles in the ceiling, last time she checked, there were 234. Let's see if the number somehow changed. 1..2..oh forget it. She looked at the clock. Where was Rachel? She should have been here by now, she had messaged her hours ago. The door clicked, as it swung shut, the park officials leaving to go over the recording of her interrogation. They were almost too easy to fool.

"_Let's start. If we have any trouble, we'll have to chain you." As if chains could have held her. "Your name."_

"_Jane Johnson."_

"_Any past felonies? Any crimes you have committed? Speeding tickets?"_

_She shook her head. All those times she broke the law…well that could stay private._

"_What was the pink light?"_

"_Probably the sun reflecting off my sunglasses. They're tinted pink." Now that was a good lie. She had to give herself some credit; she had a unique ability to tell whoppers. Big ones. Believable ones. _

_He paused, "Your name." _

They hadn't gotten anything important out of her. Poor fools. They didn't even know she was a contestant on The Bachelor. Thinking about it, she felt almost sorry for Shirley and Sharon, having ruined their date with Wally. First, by wasting time chasing him around the park, and now this. They had gone home a while back in frustration. Hearing footfalls she turned around, and squinted into the dim lighting.

"Hey." She started in surprise at the voice right outside her cubicle. She raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?" Seeing him grin, she could feel a cocky reply readying to answer her. In one smooth gesture, he stood on one knee, and swept an imaginary hat off his head.

"I have come to rescue you, my fair maiden."

Jade smacked her forehead. Out of all the things that he could have said, how did he always manage to say, what she _didn't_ want to hear?

"Sorry, West, but I," she sniffed at him primly, "don't need rescuing."

"Well, it seems to me, you're a did." Jade laughed at him, he didn't even make sense. "Yepp," he nodded his head. "One of those charming damsels in distress, a did. Except," he rested his pointer finger on his chin, as if in deep thought, "You don't seem very charming, quite the opposite actually…" he looked down at her, anticipating a reaction. He wasn't disappointed.

Jade yelled at him through the glass cubicle, not bothering to even disprove his point of her ability to charm.

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When Shirley and Sharon walked into the hotel where the bachelorettes were staying, they were immediately pressed for details. They glowered at them; their date had not gone well.

"Where's Jade?" Katherine asked. It was an innocent question, but asked at the worst time possible. Green with envy, Sharon spat out an answer.

"She's with Wally." She looked at Shirley pointedly, "They're making out in the haunted house."

At this, all the women wore angry expressions. _The witch! How dare she! _A commotion started in the room, resulting from a mix of jealousy and bitterness. Why couldn't it be _they_ kissing the bachelor? Mara's face was one of stone. She didn't say anything, her unspoken anger, was possibly greater than the others, who were currently hurling rude comments about Jade.

"You're lying." Ahn looked at Sharon straight in the eyes. "You glanced at your twin before you spoke, your eyes slightly shifted. Not only that," Ahn smirked, "You hesitated for a fraction of a second before you talked. Sorry." Ahn finished in a sweet tone. "You lied."

Sharon glared at her, seething. "Prove it." Jessica nodded slowly in agreement. Her cheeks were red with anger.

"Yes. Prove it." Ahn's eyes seemed to snap, and she pulled out an electronic device from out of nowhere. Pressing in a flurry of numbers, a screen opened, with a picture materializing. Curious, all the women pressed in around Ahn, trying to make out what the scene was. The screen cleared in a few moments, giving view to Jade screaming none too pleasant things to Wally, banging her fists inside the glass cubicle.

Silence reigned in the room, as Ahn casually tucked the device back into the folds of her dress, and looked at Sharon who was fuming.

"Well, what do you know." Ahn turned and walked out of the room, the rest of the bachelorettes following her, including Shirley, who was worried that her twin's current unpopularity would rub off on her.

Left alone in the room, Sharon glared, her eyes filled with hatred. She would make Ahn pay.

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Wally grinned as he watched Jade vent her anger out on him behind the glass cubicle. He wished her good luck on trying to hurt him. Too bad _that_ wouldn't happen, not when she was in there, and he was way out here. But then again, she wouldn't be fast enough to hurt him, even if she _was_ out here.

"And you put too much gel in your hair anyway!" Jade screeched, finally ending her tirade of insults. She leaned, one hand against the glass, panting. Screaming took a lot out of a person.

She watched Wally stiffen. Ha. It had taken long enough, but she had found one of his pet peeves. He couldn't stand negative comments about his hair.

"Way too much gel." Jade emphasized smugly.

"Your pigtails are tacky. What are you in, kindergarten?" Wally shot back. Jade's pigtails stuck straight out in shock. He. Did. Not…Oh yes he did. Her eyes radiating pink light, waves of energy shot of Jade's fingertips shattering the glass easily. It was powerful enough to stop Kory's star bolts, but her hexes? Breaking glass was one of her specialties. Her cubicle didn't stand a chance. Stepping out, she growled at the bachelor, it was time to have some fun.

"Jinx." Wally nodded slowly at his realization. He should have guessed. He could have guessed. But meeting another metahuman after nearly a decade was something his mind would not let him grasp. After all, he had been one of the newer heroes. Meeting only the main five, and the Titans East, before speeding off to wherever he was needed. Then in the final fight with the Brotherhood of Evil, after he had brought Madame Rouge to her knees, and defeated Dr. Light with the others, he had quickly left the party before meeting many of the Titans. He had…he grinned at the memory, plans with several gorgeous women. Not long after, the Titans disbanded due to public discontent. He had never met the rest of them, certainly heard of them, but…

"JINX!" Still growling, Jade glared, seeing her friend Rachel, and a stranger running through the door.

"About time you came. Don't you think?" At her accusation Rachel scowled, and looked down, not meeting her eyes. Her eyes popped open, as she realized Jade's hands were sparking with pink energy. As she observed the broken glass, and the shocked amusement park officers, Rachel got angrier and angrier.

"Now, look at what you've done. Again! I can't believe this Jinx!" Rachel hissed. Jade stopped her ranting, as she noticed what she really had done. She had blown her identity, but this wasn't the first time, Rachel could always erase their memories… "No, this time I _can't, _someone's blocking my powers." Rachel muttered. "And, I can't believe I thought you would stop with the roller coaster." Rachel glared harshly at Jade. "Of course you wouldn't. I always have to save our butts because you, Hyperactive, and Rocky can never control your emotions."

Jade shifted her weight guiltily. It _was_ true. She turned her gaze to the stranger. He looked vaguely familiar, and he seemed to know West, who was in deep thought. _Probably thinking about how freaky I am. _Jade bit her lip. The thought had upset her…weird, her mind flipped back to their situation.

"Can you trace to where the person is?" As Rachel nodded, Jade looked at her seriously. "I have an idea, it's weird, and it's unreasonable, which is why it might work." Jade swiftly trapped the park officials with hexed metal and gagged them as an afterthought. "Trace my hex energy, through your mind to whoever is blocking you. The hex will mess up what they're doing for a few minutes, and you'll get your powers back. In that time, erase their memories." Jade pointed to the officials. "Got that?" Rachel looked at her friend who had obviously lost her mind.

"Yea…that'll work." Jade glared.

"And it also makes sense that since Kid Flash was struck by lightning, he is able to travel at light speed, and vibrate his molecules through solid objects." Rachel shook her head at the hopelessness of her reasoning.

"I lost my powers, which includes the ability to read people's minds…" _Mind reading doesn't count! _Jade's voice echoed triumphantly in her head. Rachel shrugged. "Fine."

The two stood fingertip-to-fingertip, Jade's energy flowing into her friend. Rachel heard a distant cry of outrage, but that was soon forgotten. Rachel gasped as her powers surged back into her, enveloping her in a black shadow. Her cloak flowing, Rachel uttered three words. "Azerath, metrion, zinthos."

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_Okay, so that was a longer chapter for those who requested it, it's not much longer, but it is a little bit longer. Those people who write really long chapters... Wow. I applaud your talent. By the way, thanks for the reviews! _


	10. Absolutely Not

**Chapter 10**

Jade was lifted bodily by an unseen force, and was suddenly flying over backwards, until the wall stopped her, hard. Groaning, she opened her eyes, only to close them again. Wally West was leaning over her, trying to be her knight in shining armor _again_. After being slammed into a wall, Jade was inclined to be touchy.

"Are you okay?" And unfortunately for Wally West, questions like that were not graciously received.

"If you got thrown into a wall, would _you_ be okay?" Jade was not entirely pleased. Of course she wasn't okay. Unless he really cared, questions like that were entirely pointless, and devoid of emotion. Wasting air space and time. Psh.

She held out a hand to the wall, and got up unsteadily, rubbing her eyes. Her vision alternated between black dots, and bright flashes of light, and to her annoyance, she couldn't see anything. Was this was they meant by seeing stars? She didn't like it at all. _Silly, helpless, feeling like a field mouse_…so thinking, she stumbled off toward what she thought was Rachel, but was unfortunately a piece of broken park machinery.

The bachelor opened his mouth, then closed it. Whatever he would say would just get thrown back at him, filled with poisonous barbs. And pencils. Newly sharpened pencils. So, instead, he decided to turn to the real Raven in the opposite side of the room where Jade…Jinx, was currently walking over to, if you could call it walking.

"Hey Raven, what's up! Need a hand?"

"It's Rachel." She began walking over to Jade to kind of…apologize for what had happened. Technically it was her fault, losing control at the last minute, because of the excitement of using her powers again. She would never say this aloud, but she was thankful for her friends who needed her to use her powers to erase whatever damage they may have caused in people's memories. It was a good excuse to be in touch with her Azerathian side. She didn't like to refer to her father, especially since the last incident on her fateful birthday.

Wally whispered audibly enough to Gar for Rachel to hear. "She hasn't changed much hasn't she? Must be the Trigon side." Gar shook his head.

"Gee, great way, no, a _classic _way to get her on her good side. Did you forget how scary she can be? Anyway, I have the info you wanted…"

Hearing it, (of course, she wasn't eavesdropping, how could she, even if they dropped the word "Trigon" like a bombshell on her ears?) Rachel stopped short, and her head turned to look at the two friends.

"_What_ information." Her suspicious eyes met innocent faces. Laughing easily, Gar swung an arm over her shoulder. "Don't worry about it Rae, er, Rachel." He faltered when he was greeted with a frosty stare. He changed the subject. "Why don't you just ask Wally?" Before he was bombarded with accusations, Wally smoothly interrupted the empath.

"_Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, _after all this time, is this how you say hello to your biggest buddy? By immediately accusing me of something I might did or didn't do?" Said girl grimaced as he swung an arm over her other shoulder. He pouted. "Come on, you know you like it." In the meantime, Jade had regained her senses after realizing somewhat embarrassingly, that no, the thing she had been talking to, was indeed not her friend. Swiftly glancing around to see if anyone had noticed, she was relieved to find that West and the other guy were currently busy with Rachel. Jade watched Rachel with clear amusement. Who knew _Rachel _of all people was a guy magnet? And this was too good to keep to herself, after all, the empath was just asking for it, right? Not bothering to keep the smirk out of her face, she slyly decided to comment.

"You really should give us some of these tips on guys, Rachel. From the looks of it, you're an expert." At that, Rachel slowly stopped walking, her eyes traveling down the length of the arm on her right shoulder, and the arm on her left shoulder. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she tried to control her anger…and embarrassment.

"Get…off." Wally was about to suggest to her to loosen up and go to a spa, when she decided they weren't moving fast enough. Black light engulfed the two former Titans and threw them against the floor roughly. She cut off their protestations with an abruptness they didn't bother to contradict. Walking over to a smirking Jade, she glared coldly, all thoughts of any apology having evaporated long ago. "You can forget about me ever letting up on that photograph. You're stuck on the show until kingdom come." Jade's eyes widened considerably, the traces of amusement replaced with seriousness. Thoughtfully, she looked at the two park officials, their eyes wide with terror and confusion.

"Might want to give them another dose of memory eraser, Rachel," she replied calmly, "We'll have West put them back on duty on the park grounds."

Puzzled by Jade's response, Rachel kneeled down beside the park workers without argument, her hands glowing black, her aura quickly working her magic into their minds. She stood up, and waited for the fastest boy alive to take them back. She paused, hesitant, Jade's reaction might have been because…"On second thought, Gar, go with him, Jade and I will meet you guys by the entrance."

When the door slammed shut with a metallic screech, Rachel finally turned to her longtime friend, and former enemy. She fumbled with her words, unsure, "Do you…like him?" Startled, Jade paused a moment, but managed to recover quickly.

"Who, your green-eyed friend? He sure is hott!" She laughed easily, "But," she leaned forward, "I'd say the question here is, do you?" Rachel scowled rather fiercely. _Don't change the subject_, was stamped on her face, which Jade easily read, but chose to ignore. She pressed on; well knowing she was tampering with _Raven_, the half-demon. "Did we know him? But where's he from?"

"He's Beastboy." Her voice stilled Jade, and this time, Rachel asked without any hesitation, "Do you like Wally West?"

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"_Hey Vic. Nice night." Jade gestured with her head out toward the awesome expanse of ocean highlighted by the colors of the setting sun. She thoughtfully gazed out at the water. Could she capture its life, its shape, it's **beauty**, on a piece of paper? She turned and began to get out her paints and brushes. _

"_Hey Jade." Vic replied softly. His greeting fell on deaf ears. Painting was one of Jade's few passions that took her entire concentration. Her emotions blotted on the white canvas, as bold and dark, as she liked._

_When she finished, she felt his presence at her shoulder. She waited apprehensively for his criticism that would make her art better, or so she believed. He had been a director at an art museum for several years before switching to acting, so his opinion mattered greatly, so much that the high and mighty Jinx, was reduced to biting her lip in worry as she waited for his comments. _

"_It's, uh, good." Jade looked up at her boyfriend puzzled. Normally he would have gone on a tangent of the good parts of her painting, and reasons for improvement, criticism to help her in the long run. "Look Jade…" he sighed heavily, then the rest of his speech tumbled out quickly. "I think I need a break from all this for a while. It's not working out, my new acting job has really took off, and I don't have as much time as I used to…" He looked up hesitantly at Jade's emotionless face. "I…" _

"_No problem, Vic. Call me when you need to." _

"_I…"_

"_I'm busy painting." Jade began brushing long, hard strokes across the new canvas, refusing to look at him. As he walked off, she repeated softly, "I'm busy painting."_

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No. She didn't like him. Duh. She rolled her eyes what an obvious answer, and she thought Rachel was smart. What a waste of both their times. Besides, she learned from experience, guys like him were overrated. She smiled grimly, stay away, and you won't get hurt.

"_But he isn't that bad." _Jade whipped her head around in confusion to see a Jinx in white, and a…she squinted, a halo? on her shoulder. _"I'm your good side Jinx. I am subdued and oppressed, but nonetheless I am here. I am the part of you that loves, and trusts, forgives, and forgets, hopes, and look to your morals for guidance. I am the part that helped you turn to the good side. And I'm also the part of you that gets hurt." _

Jade rolled her eyes, and waited for a bad side Jinx to show up, but nothing appeared. _"It was decided you are in no need of a shoulder angel advising you to do bad. Otherwise, you would undoubtedly spiral downward to your doom." _Jade scowled fiercely, "What did you appear for anyway? I don't need you." _"For a second chance at love."_ Angel Jinx's eyes widened, as Jade stared her down. "Go _away_!" And as Jade finished speaking, she flicked Angel Jinx off her shoulder, and with a poof she disappeared.

Okay. Jade took a deep breath to calm herself down, and began a mantra. Did she like Wally West? Absolutely not! Did she like that Wally West? Absolutely _not_. In the middle of this, an annoyed Rachel shook Jade out of her trance.

"Okay, _Jade_, I'm going to say this one more time. Do you like Wally West?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Jade shrieked, and ran out of the room. _I hate being on this show - I HATE WALLY WEST - and, _she vowed, _I'll make sure 'Mr. West' is going to hate me too._

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_Finally. Another update. I won't waste time making excuses, but…hope you enjoyed. _


	11. Xin chào ba

**Chapter 11**

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Sharon stared at the ceiling above the bed. She was in one foul mood, and with good reason. She counted off on her fingers, every bad thing that had happened to her this day, her expression growing more furious by the second.

"Wally ditches me," she spoke out loud to the stillness, "even worse, he leaves _me_ to go off with _Jade_," she sneered ferociously, "I get ridiculed as soon as I get here, and my twin goes off with the other girls leaving me here, all…by..my…self." She sniffed, filled with pity for her sorry state. "What am I going to dooo?" Sharon wailed, but her self-wallowing was cut short by a sharp knocking at her door.

_Now who could that be? _Sharon scowled as she walked toward the door; she couldn't even be allowed the privilege of privacy?

"It's Mara." Her cold, harsh tone made Sharon almost afraid. She paused warily behind her door. "I presume Jade is not a friend of yours?" A pause. "She certainly isn't mine." Sharon's eyes narrowed, "What are you trying to say, Mara…"

"I have come for a little business arrangement involving a certain pink-haired girl." Sharon's eyebrow arched in surprise. "Are you interested? Because now is the only time I will make this offer. I have ways that will leave her as a rival no longer." _Certainly, I'm afraid of her, and yet…_ After pondering for a few seconds, she made her decision. Mara was welcomed in gladly. _After all, _Sharon told herself, _Jade shouldn't have gotten in my way. _

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Jade went running blindly through the amusement park. Running just to get away from her so-called friend. How dare Rachel suggest that she liked the bachelor? Friend? _Hah!_ She reached the exit of the park, and stood uncertainly. She didn't have a way to get home, or to the manor. Either way she was stuck here in this cheerful, joyful, happy-go-lucky place! Jade let out a frustrated yell, startling passers-by, and continued on her rampage, now on a mission to find some sugary goodness. Cotton candy. She needed some delicious satisfying fluff to calm her nerves. But before she could pay the vendor…she was grabbed by the arm, and dragged off. _No…No…NOO!_

"NOOOOOOOO!" Whirling around on her "enemy" Jade looked like a villainness once again. Her anger radiating off her in waves, her eyes sparking fury, and her hands clenched, she was one scary person indeed. "Buy me some cotton candy West." Hearing no consent on his part, "You owe me…" followed in a singsong voice, the evil glint in her eyes telling him she wasn't joking One. Little. Bit. However, he wasn't bothered at all.

"Too much sugar is bad for you…" He bent his head, and whispered in her ear, "Jinxie." Jade punched him. He winced. Jade kicked him. He let out a yell. The third time she lunged, ready to throttle him, but by this time, he learned he better move it, and dodged. Losing her balance, she flipped in the air, and landed in the dirt, her pride and back both injured. Slowly counting to five, her anger ebbed away slightly, and she looked calmly up at the sky, although refusing to meet eyes with the _boy_. "Are you just going to lie there?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"…"

"Hmm?" He waggled his eyebrows.

Jade leapt up and took off running, pushing the red-haired speedster aside, and sprinted as fast as she could. Perhaps, perhaps if she ran fast enough she could get away. Jade rolled her eyes. Who was she kidding? She couldn't outrun the fastest guy alive. She squinted at the dark figures in the distance…Rachel and Gar.

"Hey Jade." Wally grinned. As expected, he was easily keeping pace with her labored running. Jade gritted her teeth and kept on sprinting, she figured if she reached Rachel, Wally wouldn't _dare _to bother her. At least, that's what she hoped.

Upon reaching them, Rachel just smirked at Jade's bedraggled state. Realizing that her _friend_ would be no help at all, she grabbed Gar's ear, and pulled him towards her.

"Oww.." She ignored him.

"Get your _buddy_ away from me." As she was saying these very words, she could feel his presence behind her. She rounded on him. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Wally looked at the furious Jinx; he was grinning of course. Making her angry had become his new favorite way of entertaining himself. And…what better way to make her angry than to annoy her, just a little. He smirked, his eyes were dancing with laughter when she jabbed him harshly.

"Now Jade, why would you hurt me, you're supposed to get on my good side remember?"

"You have a good side?" He heard a very unlady-like snort. Apparently the witch believed her comment was hilarious, as did Gar. His laughter rang out loudly enough, so that Wally asked Rachel rather sharply if they could leave.

She solemnly nodded, and led them to an empty lot where the four of them were transported back to the bachelor home.

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In the large room, everyone was impatiently waiting for Wally and Jade to return. In the midst of polite conversations, Ahn noted that Sharon and Mara were sitting together, unlike before. Why was that?

When the doorbell rang to announce the bachelor's arrival, there was a stampede.

"WALLY'S HERE!" A chorus of voices screamed with excitement. _Finally!_ Ahn shrugged off her observation of Sharon and Mara as a result of Shirley ditching her sister, and also hurried off to greet the bachelor. She was here to try and marry the guy after all.

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When the door swung open, Wally was greeted with the many eager faces of the contestants.

"WALLY!" He was swamped with women who wanted him for her own. Finally, he was surrounded with attention from women, and this was not the negative kind. As he sank comfortably into a couch, he glimpsed pink hair exiting the room. Why did she have to insult him all the time anyway? Wasn't he every girl's dream? He smirked; of course he was.

"Wally that's so cute! Let's take pictures!"

"Wally…" He turned to look at Katherine. "Can you give us a hint where we're going tomorrow? Please?" She pouted.

He was dying to tell her, the problem was: he didn't know. He leaned close, making her turn red, "It's a secret." He winked at her, and then made as if to leave the room, "It's late now ladies, I'll see you tomorrow…"

"Please just a little longer…" He gave in easily; he figured it would be rude to refuse.

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Jade was about to sink into a deep sleep, when she heard a knock at her door.

"Ug." She hesitated, but gave into the temptation as she let a bolt of pink fly toward the doorknob. _Click_.

"The door's not locked. Come in if you want."

"Did you…just use your hex magic to unlock the door Jade?" Ahn looked at Jade with reproving eyes.

"I'm tired." Jade snapped at her. Ahn laughed.

"You're as nice as always. How'd it go?"

"He gives me a headache, and don't laugh. I bet you'll get one tomorrow."

"Can you help me pick an outfit?" Jade sat up with wide eyes.

"You actually want to impress him?"

"You're the weird one, not wanting to." Ahn looked at Jade carefully; maybe she was forced to be on this show somehow. Well, she certainly didn't want to be here, although it may just be a façade.

Jade roughly sized up Ahn. "A long braid. A cute hat. Something green. There." She pushed Ahn out with a wave of her hand, and collapsed on her bed. She was so _tired_.

Running around an amusement park all day will do that to a girl.

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Anh's date with Wally ended up being the baseball game. Wally was sitting between Katherine and Annabelle, and she ended up next to Annabelle. Neither of the three was paying any attention, and she wasn't the type to force her way into conversation with others. Bored, she tried to make the best of the baseball game, but it too was boring. She liked sports that had more action, boxing, wrestling, but especially martial arts. Compared to those, baseball seemed bland.

Sighing, Ahn walked away from the grandstand. "I'm going to get some fries…" she slipped away easily, and walked quickly up to a booth shining with a sign: FOOD, FRIES AND MORE.

She ordered fries. Jumbo size. The game wasn't going to be over anytime soon, and she knew she'd be bored every minute of it.

"That would be $10.50." Ahn slapped a $10 bill on the counter, and then began to rummage through her purse for extra change. At the impatient fidgeting of the people behind her in line, Ahn began getting frustrated. She just needed $0.50!

A tall man behind her procured two quarters from his wallet, and pushed it forward on the counter. She couldn't read his expression because sunglasses covered his eyes, while a winter hat, covered his hair. "Who are you?" The man shrugged and walked away, and as he did, Ahn pulled him back and demanded his name. "I don't want to feel obligated to anyone. I should at least thank you properly." She explained when she noticed that he looked uncomfortable.

"No, it's not that…aren't you on The Bachelor?" Puzzled Ahn nodded.

"How do you know?" When he shrugged in response, Ahn answered her own question. _Those cameras. _"Are they…" she hesitated, "Showing the footage to the public already?" He grinned at her, some of his flirtatious nature beginning to show again.

"Yes, and I must say, you're much prettier now." Ahn's eyes narrowed, she felt it more as an insult than the compliment it was. He continued, "I've met you before." Her annoyance disintegrated into curiosity. She was about to ask where, when he seemed to read her mind. "That's for me to know, and you to find out," he teased, "But don't worry you'll see me again."

"How reassuring." Although Ahn's remark was sarcastic, in truth she was a bit concerned with the fact that he knew her, and she didn't. And glancing at him, she thought he seemed to be pleased by all the confusion he was causing. He suddenly looked down at an invisible watch.

"Xin chào ba Ahn Ngyuen. See ya."

"How do you know I'm Vietnamese?" _And more than that… _"How do you know my _name_?" Shocked at this strange turn of events, she stood in place as he walked away. Then a thought struck her, suddenly and painfully. _Is he my stalker?_

The man strode quickly into a large crowd of people, out of her sight. He grinned in memory at her bewilderment. He hadn't known for certain if she was Ahn Nguyen, but she had just confirmed it. Interesting. Very interesting. He should let Wally know.

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Xin chào ba _means good-bye in Vietnamese._

_Hopefully, you didn't mind that this chapter concentrated on a bunch of different characters, rather than the main two. And as always - thank you for those awesome reviews._


	12. Never Trust a Cobra

**Chapter 12**

* * *

Her eyes widened at the thought. "My stalker…" Ahn let the words roll around slowly on her tongue with a countenance of absolute distaste. "He is going to be in for it." She growled to herself. Ahn ran after the retreating figure. She would make him talk and if he did end up being her stalker…she balled her hand up into a fist - She always needed more martial arts practice. 

Unfortunately, he had, perhaps purposely, walked into a large crowd of people, and she couldn't see him anywhere.

Fuming, Ahn milled around the area for a chance of spotting him. Her fantasies of what she would do when she caught him increasingly became more elaborate. _Maybe, I should pin him on the wall with my shuriken. He would then be helpless to runaway from my fury. Then I can interrogate him - force him to tell me how he knows me. I can entice him into talking; threaten to hold him over a cliff! That would do it_. Tempted, Ahn fingered a hidden pocket full of shuriken in her cute outfit, but remembered her identity. _Can't have the past chasing me, can I?_ So saying, she resolutely scouted the area once again; the shuriken remained untouched. The crowd slowly dispersed, and her target was nowhere in sight. She walked away, disappointed, back to the grandstand. Seeing Wally preoccupied, she let out an irritated huff. It was going to be a long day. Not only that, she apparently wasn't missed. _I might as well pack and go home, with how I'm doing on this date. _

Her gloom worsened when she discovered her fries had gone.

----------

"You're right Jade, maybe this bachelor show isn't all that it's cut out to be." Ahn mumbled into her pillow miserably. "Even though he's cute, adorable, funny, and with great red hair, not to mention rich and…"

"Ahn…stop." Although Jade really put an effort into trying to be concerned for her friend, her annoyance was getting greater by the second. Hearing more mumbling, and a heartfelt sigh, Jade rolled her eyes, and tried to comfort Ahn. "But you _said_ you didn't like him, so suck it up." Ahn looked up at Jade. _Some comforter._ "Besides," Jade continued on reassuringly, "I'm sure you won't get cut this round - there are girls worse in both personality and looks." Ahn grinned.

"But you know…" Ahn stopped, hesitant. "There was this guy…" She stopped again.

"_A guy_!" Jade's eyes popped open, as she jumped in the air, and landed with a loud thunk on the bed. Her pink eyes gleaming with curiosity, she looked at Ahn intently. When Ahn refused to answer, Jade decided to provoke her. "An ex-lov-er?" She grinned slyly, carefully enunciating each syllable.

"No!" Ahn threw a pillow at Jade. Her eyes glazed over. "But it was weird," she continued slowly, "He knew who I was, he knew _Vietnamese_, but…I have no idea who he is."

Jade frowned slightly. When she looked up again, she met Ahn's eyes. Two black eyes stared at her evenly, not worried, but puzzled at what had happened. "Do you suppose," the black eyes didn't blink, "he's a stalker?" Ahn shook her head, dismissing her words, as soon as she had heard them. Nobody would dare.

Jade rolled over on the bed. "Yeah. I doubt it too." She grinned at the thought of the imaginary stalker. _Poor guy, if he only knew that she was _Cheshire_…_Even _she _knew, that defeating Ahn would be a challenge, although she wouldn't readily admit it. Jade mused. _The only chance the guy would have if he went face to face with Ahn would be if he had "special abilities". Superpowers. _Suddenly, Jade froze. Ahn immediately picked up on her tenseness. "What is it?" she asked softly.

"You're not social." Ahn shrugged. A little random, if harmless, question.

"I like to work alone."

"Not a lot of people know you?" Ahn nodded. "Then who does?"

"Clients…for both my jobs." Jade rolled her eyes. Assassin and lawyer. Jeez. "That would be," Ahn counted off on her fingers, "about fifty people."

"_Fifty _people in the last ten years!"

"A good assassin must remain secretive."

"It does make this simpler…" Jade announced. Ahn caught on.

"Out of the fifty, only two match the guy's height, weight, and build. Neither is the guy." When Jade gave a pointed look, Ahn was exasperated. "One stuttered, the other would never dress in an outfit under two thousand dollars."

"Gaudy?"

"Definitely." Ahn's eyes widened. "That would mean that the guy must be an old acquaintance, from _then_."

_Then _was said in reverence. _Then _was said with a slight wistfulness and longing. _Then_ was the time when one could truly release the talents they were born with. Back _then._

Heroes. Villains. The Titans. The Brotherhood. The most logical conclusion was: the guy at the baseball stadium was from _then. _

------------

Who knew that the course on Vietnamese would prove to be helpful? Roy had taken the class because a girl he was interested in was Vietnamese. He had planned to pursue her with romantic sayings from her native language; it was foolproof. Unfortunately, he discovered she was actually from Bangladesh, making the course useless, until now of course.

He had first watched her because of the way she moved. She didn't simply walk. She had _glided_. A second later, Roy cringed. He had made it sound as if he worshiped her. No, he corrected himself. She had walked, _differently_. He nodded at himself in approval. Considering it even more, he decided she moved like a shadow. Visible, tangible, ungraspable. _Like someone else he knew._ He probed his brain carefully for the distant, far-off memory. He knew it was important. If he had been drawn to her movement now, he would have then, and he would have remembered.

There. Click. Photographic image from the past.

Roy sucked in his breath. _No way._ The girl's height, weight, and build matched. Her eyes matched. Her origin matched, maybe. Now, only one way to make sure, but how to make her acquaintance casually?

He watched her as she made her way to the french fry stand. He watched her place a bill on the counter. He watched her annoyance as she rummaged through her purse. Perfect. He took out his sunglasses. He put them on. He took two quarters, and placed them on the counter. _Clang. _The quarters sounded as they landed on the surface. _Fate_, they cried out. Nobody heard. (After all, they _are_ only quarters.)

"Who are you?" The voice was laced with wariness and some other quality he couldn't guess. He shrugged and forced his feet to move away. She would call him back; at least, he hoped. _3...2...1 _He was pulled back roughly by the girl. He winced. _So strong._ She demanded again, "Who are you?" _Uh oh. Change the subject, change the subject…_

He had almost not been able to pull it off. He had been panicking with her interrogation, although he admitted 'who are you' was a perfectly reasonable question. He had tipped the tables quickly. Using his small amount of Vietnamese to astound her, and her name, to shock her, he used the moment to make his getaway, although, he carefully listened to her reply.

"How do you know I'm Vietnamese?" A pause. "How do you know my _name_?" Bingo.

So the girl _was _Cheshire after all.

Roy had made certain that he would be able to disappear without a trace. An angry Ahn, no, an angry _Cheshire_ was very very dangerous. However, Roy sneaked one more glance at the green-clad girl before he mixed with the crowd. She was different from when he had last seen her, for example, her new outfit revealed she had a figure, unlike her costume when she was a full-time assassin.

Roy smirked. He hadn't been lying when he said she had gotten prettier. Well, perhaps. He had never actually seen her, but even during the time of the Titans and the Brotherhood, she had intrigued him. He had come to know her true name through extensive research, bribery, and threats on his part, although he claimed to never pay much attention to the assassin at all, except to heed the common warning: don't cross her, which actually intrigued him all the more. However, he dropped it. After all, she was a villain, he was a hero, and they were enemies. And Robin would flip.

But now…he, Roy Harper, would personally exert himself to meet her again. The way he figured it, he wasn't Speedy, she wasn't Cheshire, and they weren't enemies.

----------

Ahn's mysterious guy was on one of two long lists. The good guys. The bad guys. The search had slightly narrowed. "He" could not be Mammoth (height difference), Billy Numerous (accent), Dr. Light (age), Beast Boy (skin color), or Monsieur Mallah and Wildebeest (for obvious reasons). And between Jade and Ahn, their reasoning crossed out many more possible guys from _then_.

Unfortunately, there were more that matched "him", for guys with superpowers tended to be tall, thin, and muscular - the product of working out and eating multivitamins. Kyd Wykkyd, Aqualad, Gizmo and Mas y Menos (Gizmo and the twins would have grown, and Mas y Menos were young enough to learn to speak English without an accent), Robin, Speedy, Jericho, Red X, and the list seemed to keep going and going and going.

Even more unfortunately, Jade and Ahn were interrupted in their vastly important discussion with the announcement that the third group date with Wally would begin in a mere hour. The shrieking and the panic that followed made it impossible to continue on, although the walls were supposedly soundproof. They needed a break anyway. Jade and Ahn went out to greet the commotion in the halls, made mostly by the ditzy Lina, and sat back to enjoy the entertainment it provided.

----------

It was one long hour before the girls finally came to meet Wally West in front of the botanical gardens. Or he so believed. To the girls, the hour had been a nightmare of blow-drying, applying make-up, and trying out literally hundreds of outfits between the three of them. Lina: 370 outfits. Clarissa: 450 outfits. Mara: 2. This was because Mara knew what she looked good in, and she knew what she wanted to wear. For the most part. In the end, it was Mara that looked the best out of the three. It wasn't too much of a surprise to any of them.

"Lina, Clarissa, Mara." Wally West greeted them with his trademark grin.

"Hello," said Lina.

"Hi Wally," said Clarissa.

"Hey _you_." Mara sidled up to the bachelor; ignoring the hate looks the girls were throwing at her.

"Hey _you_." Wally countered smoothly. He was pleasantly surprised she had decided to make her move so quickly.

"I have something for you." Mara looked up at him coyly. "Want it?"

"Sure." He made a mental note to keep her during the next elimination. "What is it?"

She looked up at him, smiling as a cobra smiles, dangerous yet entrancing.

"A kiss."

* * *


	13. Horseshoes

**Chapter 13**

_Fast update isn't it? I was kind of surprised myself. I think all this was an excuse to shy away from my summer reading...which I should get to sometime...like now._

* * *

Three pairs of eyes watched his reaction. He smirked ever so slightly, and then leaned forward to whisper in her ear. 

"Do you _really _want me that badly?" Another smirk, just for her. "I don't blame you."

Mara's smile grew. She had accomplished what she wanted. She had grabbed his interest, she had hooked him, and she would not let him go. All she had to do now was reel him in until he was like a fish out of water, gasping for breath, too weak and helpless to do anything but what she wanted. But now, there was time. Time to reel him in slowly and expertly, so that he wouldn't break the line and swim free.

A warning voice told her reeling this bachelor in would be difficult, for he was completely surrounded by women seeking for approval. Mara tossed that thought aside. The important thing was that she was safe from the next elimination round, of this, she was sure. However, she had to leave him wanting more in order to win it all.

_So, the kiss he expected…_

She carefully pressed a smushed chocolate kiss into his palm. "Your kiss." She touched his hand longer than necessary, than walked away toward the entrance of the botanical gardens. She knew he was watching her walk away, and she smiled.

…_would be for another time._

Timing was everything to Mara de Mille.

--------------

Rachel strolled around the grounds outside from where the bachelorettes were residing. Leaning against a tree, she lifted her fingers and rested them lightly on her temples. She sent a mind message. _Jade. I'm just outside. Come out; I'll meet you._

Jade received the message in moments. She hesitated for a moment, before deciding to bring along Ahn. She looked at her casually with lifted eyebrows, and cocked her head towards the door.

As they left the bachelorette home, Jade carefully looked around before whispering to Ahn.

"We're meeting a friend of mine. She's from _then_."

Ahn was excited. "Really? Who?" Her question was answered as a figure jumped down from the branches of a tree they had walked past. "Raven!" The empath sent her a frosty glare.

"You must be mistaken," she said icily, "I'm Rachel." Her even stare made Ahn uncomfortable.

"Ah-Ahn. Ahn Ngyuen." Rachel nodded.

"I'm going to probe your mind, make sure you're trustworthy." Ahn looked at Jade helplessly, but the reformed villain, just shrugged her shoulders. When Ahn finally glanced at Rachel, the shorthaired girl met her gaze with an almost-friendly look. "So, tell me about that guy at the baseball stadium. Are you sure he's from _then_?"

-----------

He watched her stop just inside the entrance to the botanical gardens. She turned around, and smiled at him. "Come and find me." She sashayed away.

Wally looked at the Lina and Clarissa, who were standing off to themselves forlornly. They already had an idea what the rest of the date would end up like. He frowned when they didn't even look at him. He went after Mara, and at the entrance, called to them to follow.

When Wally entered the botanical gardens, he was hit with the aroma of hundreds of flowers. His vision swam with the vibrant colors, and he noticed the fountain at the center making perfect arcs of water, every few seconds. That was where he saw Mara, sitting, her hand lightly trailing the surface of the water in the fountain. He sat beside her, and was not surprised when she leaned into him, circled her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his shoulder. Okay, so he was a _little_ surprised.

"I suppose…" her voice was no longer coy, but seductive, "I still owe you a kiss." She let her lips rest gently on his collarbone, then his chin. She lifted her mouth toward his ear. "Follow me," she breathed. Mara stood up, and walked a few paces away, waiting. The ball was in his court now. He had to make a move, and she was sure he would make it.

Wally felt his eyes cloud over with desire. It wasn't a new feeling, but a feeling he had experienced many times before, with many different girls. However, he had found that whenever he was in this condition, it was hard for him to refuse anything for the girl that was in his eyes. Right now, she was Mara, and he followed.

-----------

Rachel quickly scanned the lists that Jade and Ahn had produced. She confirmed that the lists she held had to hold the name of the stranger; after all they had been very particular about every single hero and villain. The only problem she had with it was…

"I doubt it's Kyd Wykkyd. Even if it has been ten years, I don't think his personality would change _that_ much." Ahn was about to argue that perhaps he had tired of being silent, and was now a very socially adept person who could make witty remarks. Before she could say this however, someone had walked up and interrupted the discussion that she did not want to be interrupted. It was Gar.

"Hey Rachel! Jade! I want you guys to meet some people!" He finally spared a glance at the third girl whose grin seemed more dangerous than friendly.

"Hello." The words were ground out, and Gar returned the greeting nervously. Skirting behind Rachel, he whispered.

"Who is she?" Hearing it was Cheshire, Gar seemed to be more at ease. "No problem then. The people I want you guys to meet, I'm sure you haven't seen in at least ten years." He gave a broad wink. Ahn had been fuming, but when she heard this, she gasped. She gestured wildly to Rachel and Jade, who nodded like bobble heads. Gar watched them amused, but he was caught by surprise, when the three turned to him simultaneously. Ahn spoke, her eyes dancing with eagerness, "Take us to them."

The three girls leered at him dangerously. "Okay, okay!" Gar yelped, as he took off toward a building. Even though he couldn't hear their footsteps, he knew they were at his heels. He muttered, "I shouldn't have even offered…" He trailed off, as he saw Jade's eyes glowing at him, a smirk on her face. Over his left shoulder, Rachel spit out a brief, thank you, although her eyes never left the building that he was leading them to.

Ahn was running ahead of him, never glancing back. Her speed picked up, when two guys walked out of the building, one of them in sunglasses.

"That's them." Gar said unnecessarily. He paused. "Is there something going on here?"

His question was answered, when he saw Ahn Ngyuen had launched herself into a flying tackle. Dick Grayson was slammed into the ground.

-----------

At the bachelorette home, the girls back from the date with Wally were eyed carefully. Lina and Clarissa sank down into the couches, and when they were pressured to give away what had happened, the two broke down into sobs.

The other girls warily looked at Mara who was smiling, satisfied with the day's events. They wanted to hear her version of the story, since the other two were…preoccupied, but no one dared. Mara seemed friendly enough on the outside, but there was something about her, that warned them to keep away. Sharon especially dared not to say anything. She knew firsthand that Mara was relentless and unforgiving.

_------------_

Jessica prepared herself for the individual date. She knew she had to get the rose. She had to get his approval on this date, tonight, or… she would be sent home. She swallowed nervously, and with the eyeliner, put the finishing touches on her make-up. This was it. She twirled before the three-way mirror, and watched as her curls bounced lightly back into place. No second chance. She walked out the door purposefully; she was ready to face Wally West.

As Wally was waiting before the group of bachelorettes that had gathered to watch Jessica leave for her individual date, he noticed that Ahn and…he frowned, Jade, was missing. It really wasn't too big of a surprise, the two went everywhere together, but after his group date at the botanical gardens, he was ticked off easily whenever he thought of the pink-haired bachelorette.

He supposed it was because while Mara was luring him through the gardens with her flirtations, he had mused that it was similar to being chased by Jade around the amusement park. _Except_, the thought had crept in before he could stop it, _the latter had been more entertaining. _The thought had completely ruined the date. He ran his fingers through his unruly hair in frustration, making it even wilder.

He vehemently hoped this Jessica Philips would help him forget. He held a helmet casually under one arm. They were supposed to go for a motorcycle ride. When she finally appeared at the top of the steps, his eyes widened, while the girls murmured among themselves enviously. She looked stunning.

Smiling at the commotion she caused, Jessica walked down the steps and noticed a rose pinned to his shirt pocket. She gestured gracefully, her voice soft, "Is that _the_ rose?" _The rose of approval?_

Wally confirmed her question with a nod, and led her out to the motorcycle. He handed her a helmet, and after making sure she was seated comfortably, they took off down the road toward a secluded beach. Once there, they seated themselves on the sand.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Jessica looked at Wally. He nodded. She paused then said, "Do you think I'm pretty?" Wally grinned.

"You're gorgeous." She smiled and shifted herself a little closer to the bachelor. In moments they were making out, and proceeding to her plan, she kept him busy by kissing him, and quickly unpinned the rose from his shirt. Drawing back, she used her pouty lips to her full potential.

"Can I have this?" She dangled the rose from her fingers. His eyes were once again clouded with desire, and he agreed readily. "Thank you!!" Jessica squealed happily. She was safe! She hugged him again and again, while repeatedly squealing with happiness. Eventually, Wally led her back to the motorcycle, and they kissed goodnight when he dropped her off at the bachelorette home.

As Jessica waved dreamily to him, and finally closed the door, Wally turned and drove off in his motorcycle, back to his own place. He smirked. He had not thought about Jade during the entire make-out session, not _once_. His smirk faded into a scowl, as this thought brought on a flood of thoughts. Pink hair. Black boots. A smirk that matched his own. _Arg!_ Angry with himself, he sped down the road at record speed. Literally.

----------

Dick's black eyes were wide and filled with shock. Roy could tell because the sunglasses had fallen off when he hit the ground. Knocking the girl off roughly, Dick leaped to his feet, and shouted furiously, "_What are you doing you crazy woman!_" The girl glared at him, as if being tackled into the ground was his fault, and hissed at him in rage.

"_You!_" She rushed at him again, and this time throwing caution to the wind, she reached for her shuriken without hesitation, and threw them rapidly, one by one. Jade, Rachel, and Gar had caught up by now, and were staring, making no move to stop Ahn.

Dick, now aware that the girl had some kind of grudge against him, was able to dodge the flying pieces of metal, just barely. He yelled at her in an even angrier tone, "_Are you trying to kill me!_"

In answer, she swung her leg around to deliver a powerful wheel kick. She didn't miss. Heads followed Dick sailing across the air, and cringed, watching him land on the ground like a sack of tomatoes. Exactly. He went splat. _Oh._ Thought Dick. _Look at the pretty batarangs. _Ahn strode over and glared. "I didn't appreciate the stalker act, _Robin_." She taunted him. "Can't you tell?" Roy winced as Ahn punched his friend, and to her dismay, she discovered that she had knocked him unconscious.

She groaned, while everybody still stared, not having moved from their positions since her onslaught. Finally, uncomfortable of their watching eyes, she yelled, "Somebody _help _me already!" Everybody moved toward her at once; even Rachel was scared of her. However, it wasn't long before…

"_What is going on here?_" At this new interruption, Jade, Roy, Ahn, Gar, and Rachel looked up, dropping Dick accidentally with a thud. His attempt to restore order having succeeded, Wally looked down at Dick, then at everybody else, in total confusion. "What happened to _him_?" As the shock died down, his eyebrows furrowed when he realized that Jade and Ahn were _in his bachelor pad_. So this is where they had been the whole time.

Jade looked at him, with the smirk that matched his, every gesture arrogant, from the top of her pink hair, to the bottoms of her black combat boots. _She_ was _**in his bachelor pad**_.

He felt a vein in his forehead throb dangerously; he blew up. "_Get down to the bachelorette place and get ready for the rose ceremony! Get. Out. Now!_" He slammed the door after them, breathing heavily. His eyes _dared_ the door to open again.

Feeling everybody's stares, he stalked up the stairs to get ready for the ceremony, when he abruptly stopped. He turned and stared at Rachel. "What are you doing _here_?" He shook his head. _Doesn't matter._ He threw her out, accompanied by another loud door slam, and marched back up the stairs, ignoring Gar's protests that she was a guest. Alone in his room, the bachelor blew out a sigh, his anger slightly ebbed. "Now. Let's get back to business."

----------

Gar opened the door quietly. "Rachel?" He invited in the annoyed Rachel, and gave her the room that was furthest from Wally's own room. "I think you should stay in there for a while," he suggested casually, "meanwhile, I'll go take care of Dick."

Roy and Gar carefully lifted Dick into a bathtub, while Roy ran and filled a bucket up with ice-cold water.

"Ready?"

"Ready." Roy heaved the water onto poor Dick, who came to life with a good deal of spluttering. Hearing the voices of his friends, but seeing only shapes, he rubbed his eyes, and refocused them, only to look into the smirking face of Gar, the annoyed face of Rachel - who arrived, realizing she had never listened to Gar, and she wouldn't start now - and the extremely worried face of Roy.

"_Dude_!" Gar crowed, "You totally got beat up by a girl!"

"You deserved it, stalking Cheshire…what an idiot." Rachel walked out. She had said what she had wanted to. Dick shook his head, staring as Rachel left the room. With wide eyes, he looked at Gar.

"I have no idea what she is talking about." However, when Dick turned to Roy, his eyes narrowed suspiciously; Roy was extremely pale. "Roy?"

"Man, what am I going to do - the guy she was talking about was _me_! I'm going to get _mutilated_ when she finds out." Roy groaned, before covering his face with his hands.

"_You_?" Dick looked at him incredulously. "And you let her do that to me?" Dick fell back heavily on the pillows. "Good luck with her then, good _luck_, because I'm not going to help you at all." Roy groaned again, until an idea came to him. _To meet her, he would have to assume yet another identity. Haha! _He rubbed his hands together._ Excellent. But as who… _

"Come on Gar!" He dragged Gar away. "You've got to help me - you're a shape shifter, a master of disguise…" Continuing to ramble, he led Gar out the door, who shrugged and waved good-bye to Dick, leaving him alone.

Out in the hall, Rachel's head poked out of the shadows, watching Roy sprint down the hall with Gar. She had never truly left, and she had heard his entire confession. She smirked at the piece of knowledge she had gained. _Roy, Roy, Roy…_

---------

Ahn frowned as she looked at the door that had been slammed in her face moments before. "I didn't interrogate him yet."

Jade remarked, "I think you punished him enough." Her thoughts drifted to the red-haired bachelor. He was a lot stronger than he looked. _Impressive._ Jade froze. "Let's go, Ahn," she spoke stiffly, "the rose ceremony's in a few hours." Reluctantly, Ahn left the door, there was something wrong, he had been _too_ bewildered.

"Do you think," she hesitated, "I went after the wrong guy?"

"Then, poor guy." Jade grinned broadly. "He must have had a little bad luck."

------------

The second rose ceremony started, and although the decorations of the room were beautiful, it did little to lighten the atmosphere. Nine girls shifted nervously, as they waited in a half-circle that opened toward the entrance, in which Wally West would appear. The tenth bachelorette was calm, Jessica; she already had his approval. She was guaranteed to be chosen this round. She smiled; it was fun seeing everyone else so nervous.

_Well_, she corrected herself_, almost everyone._ She picked out the few faces that seemed nonchalant. As she heard a chorus of dresses rustling caused by everyone straightening up, she realized the bachelor had arrived. He had on a black tux, identical to the previous rose ceremony, but he still looked as good as ever, and he knew it.

Wally gestured for a table to be rolled in. On the table were seven red roses in seven crystal vases. Each vase had a different image carved into its surface. He cleared his throat as he began to speak.

"You are all beautiful," he said softly, "and you are all wonderful women…I had one of the best times of my life spending it with each and every one of you." He lowered his eyes, just as he had rehearsed. "Unfortunately, I must continue to try to find the one who seems perfect for me as a wife, and tonight," his voice softened, "three of you must go home. I have seven roses. If I choose your name, pick the rose in the vase you love best, and if I do not, please leave," he tried to emphasize this gently, "with dignity."

Jade gave Ahn a look, remembering how last time, the eliminated girls had not simply walked out; they had gone screaming and kicking and scratching. The bachelor had decided to hire some new security, due to some not wanting to return.

Wally West stood by the table with the roses. He began.

"Jessica." She smiled at him, before going and picking out a vase with a rose. She looked at each of the designs in turn._ Hearts, a pair of ribbons, an angel, a unicorn, ivy with flowers, glass slippers, and the last was the image of the bachelor himself. _She chose the last. Turning, so that he could easily see the vase that she had chosen, she kissed the face of the image, before leaving the table.

Wally smiled. He _knew_ that vase would be popular.

"Mara." She glared at Jessica, smiled at him, then took the rose with the vase of hearts.

"Katherine." She took the one with the glass slippers.

"Ahn." She decided to take the vase with the design of ivy.

"Sharon…and Shirley." The twins gave each other an icy look before changing their minds and giving each other congratulating smiles. Sharon took the vase with the pair of ribbons, and Shirley took the one that had an angel on its surface.

Here, the bachelor paused, and he surveyed the four girls left. Lina, Clarissa, Annabelle, and Jade.

Jade fixed the folds of her dress casually, before looking up to find her eyes meeting his. His blue, blue eyes. Jade froze, when she suddenly realized that… _no, she didn't like him_, but that she…Jade considered her words very very carefully… didn't want to go home…yet.

She stared at him evenly, no emotion on her face, yet…_Pick me._

Wally's eyes swung to another girl, Annabelle, considering her. _Annabelle_ was on the tip of his tongue, he opened his mouth, but his voice box betrayed him. He grew angry; he had decided on which seven he would pick last night, and he was _not_ going to pick Jade. _Annabelle. _He concentrated._ Annabelle._ He opened his mouth. _Annabelle was on the tip of his tongue…_

"Jade." Wally coughed in surprise. His voice box had betrayed him again! There could be no other explanation. He tried to undo his 'mistake'. "I mean…"

Jade's eyes flashed angrily. "What do you _mean_, 'I mean'!" Her pink eyes unintentionally began to glow, and the last vase on the table, the unicorn, began to shake uncontrollably, as if it would suddenly shatter. Wally changed his mind; he would eliminate her next time.

"I mean, CONGRATULATIONS!" he bellowed, patting her on the back. Unfortunately, his patting was more like a series of blows. Staggering, Jade turned around and glared.

"Thank you," she said sweetly. Then turned and gave him a couple of pats in return that knocked the wind out of him. Glaring at each other with an _I hate you more than cow dung_ look, stamped into their eyes, the bachelor resumed the ceremony as best as he could in his present condition.

"I'm sorry," he said wheezing to Lina, Clarissa, and Annabelle, "I will always remember you…" he ended his good-bye speech a tad shorter than what he planned. He wasn't up to a three-minute good-bye tonight. He quickly shot Jade an icy look, but he was soon preoccupied with three stony faces that approached closer and closer. The security stepped up between Wally and the angry girls.

In unison, as if it was rehearsed, the three rejected bachelorettes screeched a final farewell at the man who was now safe behind a wall of portly men, "I HATE YOU WALLY WEST!" They left, never to be seen around this side of the country again.

Meanwhile…Wally snapped his fingers, bringing a woman who held the next date box. "Enjoy yourselves," he pointed down the hall, "that's the room for celebration." He walked away briskly, leaving the girls alone.

Mara ended up being the one to take the date box from the woman, and so, led everyone to the room. Everyone seated themselves on the couches, and waited, while Mara read the lists of the dates like the last time.

"The first group date is Katherine, Jessica, Shirley. The second is Jade, Sharon, and myself…" at this, she threw Sharon a beady-eyed glance. "And the individual date is Ahn."

"Remember…" Jessica said in singsong, "double-edged sword!" As the room erupted into giggles, Ahn scoffed with contempt. She understood the dangers and advantages of a double-edged sword, much more than Jessica ever would.

"Now," announced Mara, "these are the clues." She pulled out a horseshoe, a rudder, and a scented candle. As everyone else remarked on what these would mean, Jade's eyes remained on the horseshoe. Horseshoes were _lucky_.

* * *


	14. A Pattern of Stars

_A review: In Chapter 13, after the 2nd elimination round, the date box is passed around. The groups are: 1) Katherine, Jessica, Shirley 2) Sharon, Mara, Jade and 3) the individual date is Ahn. The objects in the date box are a horseshoe, a rudder, and a scented candle. _

**Chapter 14**

* * *

"The important question is, will you be able to do it in time?" The voice on the line was tense with frustration.

The woman chuckled softly. "You are underestimating my abilities once again. Do not worry. It will be done."

--

Jessica pondered the possibilities. A horseshoe, a rudder, and a scented candle. She walked over to inspect her large wardrobe. She figured the location did not really matter as long as she wore something stunning, and delivered. She smiled as she put on her lip-gloss. Wally would love the outfit she would wear; she absolutely knew it!

While she was putting on the finishing touches to her outfit, she chanced to look out the window and saw a violet-haired girl walking across a lawn, with her nose buried in a book. From the opposite direction, two guys walked toward her, one had green hair, and the other had no hair.

Jessica thought the two males looked odd together as one was tall and gangly, while the other was tall, built, and much better proportioned to his height. His figure was imposing, and when with a heaving of shoulders, he turned around, Jessica squealed in shock. It was the actor, Victor Stone!

She started to run down the stairs to get his autograph, when she realized that she had a date with the bachelor. Well… Jessica shifted on her feet as she tried to decide if flirting with the actor was worse than risking her spot on The Bachelor. She decided she had a better chance with Wally.

--

"Turn around, Vic. It's a surprise." Shoulders heaving from his sigh, he turned, and started walking backwards.

"Man, BB, you know I hate surprises." Exasperated, he shook his head. "You know what, I'm just going to turn around."

"No!" Gar frantically waved his arms in front of his eyes. "Otherwise, it won't be a surprise!" _And, you'll run off before I reintroduce you to Rachel. _Gar gulped. He was pretty sure Vic would kill him twice over back in the privacy of the bachelor pad, but he felt that enough was enough. Time to face the past, and meet all your old friends again. Right? Right?

As Vic agreed not to turn around, not without a good barrage of complaints though, Gar ran his fingers through his hair in relief. He sure hoped that everything would turn out well. Seeing Rachel out in the lawn reading, not paying attention to her surroundings, he had jumped at the chance to introduce her to Vic. She had already seen the rest of the old team, so…he didn't really think it through when Vic announced his return from his trip. He grabbed him, told him it was a surprise, and headed out to the lawn.

He stubbornly refused to see how it would be bad. He was not introducing Vic to Jade. It was just Rachel after all. He breathed deeply as they approached Rachel. He turned Vic around.

"Surprise…" Gar said weakly.

There was dead silence. Then afterwards, there was a period of time when Gar was the lucky receiver of two venomous glares that assured him he was going to be tarred and feathered, then ripped to shreds if he was caught by one of them, alone, at night, when no one else was watching. Finally, he held up a hand.

"Stop it!" he pleaded, more for his life, than for his two friends to reconcile. "Stop, you guys are _friends_, friends…" he trailed off, watching the expressions on Vic and Rachel stiffen on hearing the word, friends.

"Gar, you are still an idiot." Rachel turned on her heel, her nose buried in her book, and started to walk away. She was making it apparent that she wanted to ignore their chance meeting.

"Rachel, _you_ are the idiot if you're going to just walk away and leave this friendship that you guys have had for so long, permanently."

"You don't understand," Rachel's eyes began to glow red, "Victor hurt Jade, he played with her feelings for him. It is _cruel_ when a guy does that to a girl." Gar felt disappointed when he realized that what Rachel said had a double meaning. She was remembering Malchior, still after _all this time_.

Vic's eyes hardened. "I liked Jade, a lot. But one day, you meet that _one_ person who changes your entire life, who changes how you see things and challenges what you've always believed." Rachel gave him a cold stare, but Vic ignored it. _He had believed he and Jade would never break up, until Sarah Sims had entered his world. She had been…the one. _

Then in a slightly harsher tone, he continued, "I didn't care that everyone thought I was a heartless jerk for breaking up with Jade. All that mattered to me was Sarah."

"You can't help how you feel," Gar said in Victor's defense. Rachel gave them both a curt nod, the crimson in her eyes fading into purple, and then blue.

"You hurt her a lot, Victor." Her anger was replaced by an unwanted weariness. She didn't want to deal with this, she wanted things to be like they always were back _then_, before Sarah had come, before the public began suing, before the heroes went into hiding, back when they had all been _happy_.

"I'm sorry I hurt her, but…" Victor paused for a long time. "I don't regret it." His blatant honesty shocked his friends into silence. There was a slight break in the conversation.

"How's Sarah?" Rachel finally asked reluctantly. She felt she was betraying Jade by asking, but she was a _little_ curious. A smile lighted his face.

"She's great. She's absolutely great."

Rachel turned and walked away, leaving Gar and Vic standing in the middle of lawn. She heard Victor call out, "It was good seeing you again." Rachel hesitated, wondering if she truly wanted to end this friendship. No, she knew that she wanted to restore their relationship again; she had wanted to for some time.

"Yeah. It was." They were rewarded with the presence of one of her rare smiles. As she turned her back to return to the bachelorette house, her smile quickly disappeared. Her mind was struggling to make a choice. _Victor was back. To tell Jade…to not._

--

The first group date, Katherine, Jessica, and Shirley left with Wally for their boat ride. It was a yacht, really. It floated by the dock, a giant among the other ships.

Katherine squealed. "Oh Wally!"

Shirley sighed, "Ohhh Wally." She latched onto his arm.

Jessica latched onto his other arm, and sighed dreamily. Wally sighed dreamily too as he remembered the last date with Jessica. Katherine pouted since she didn't have one of his arms and followed the trio up to the deck. It had polished wooden floors, leather black couches, and an appetizer bar full of cheeses imported from all over Europe.

From the beginning, Jessica took over the date. Leading Wally, and consequently Shirley, over to one of the couches, she sat down, and to the chagrin of the other girls, began to make out with him. Although surprised by her forwardness, Wally did not complain, and instead, concentrated on kissing her back.

Of course, this didn't last too long, before one of the girls had enough. Katherine stomped over in her petite heels, and viciously grabbed Jessica's hair, forcibly pulling her away from Wally. Shirley pounced on the opportunity to drape herself over the bachelor.

"Hello, Wally," she said as seductively as she could.

"Hello," he answered with his signature grin. She was pulled back by both Katherine and Jessica, and the three proceeded into a rapidly escalating catfight. Wally, although initially shocked by how quickly it had happened, soon began to watch in fascinated delight.

A shriek rang out. "Winner gets Wally!" _Oh boy! _His childish side took over and his eyes shined with undisguised amusement.

All he needed was the popcorn, and it would be better than going to the movies.

--

Jade felt sick to her stomach. "He's here?" She groaned, leaning over the side of her bed. She lifted her head slowly. "What did he say?" Rachel hesitated. "Spit it out!" Her eyes blazed furiously.

"He said he doesn't regret breaking up with you."

"Oh." Jade's head slumped over the side of the bed again. "Is he still with…?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Did she really sound that pathetic?

"Jade." Rachel's eyes were sad. "Get over him."

"I am over him," she snapped, but she didn't convince either herself or Rachel. They both knew that she was not over him at all.

Ahn waltzed in the room, only to stop suddenly. "What's wrong?"

"She can't get over her ex-boyfriend." Rachel said bluntly, ignoring Jade's irritated glare.

"What?" Ahn was taken aback. "But what about Wally?" Then with more indignation, "But what about Wally!"

"Wally is dating seven girls at the same time," Jade said wryly. "Believe me when I say that this is not a situation I willingly put myself into. Vic was special…he was until he broke up with me, the jerk!" Hot, angry tears threatened to spill over, but she blinked them back furiously.

"Jade, get over him," said Rachel for the fiftieth time.

"As soon as you get over Malchior." Rachel's eyes sparked dangerously, and started to turn from blue into the unwelcome purple.

"That was uncalled for."

--

_Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong._

"Can you get the door, Tara? I am making this fantastically…"

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Tara laughed, and went to the door. "Hey Gar! You're finally back! Where were you?" She peered around him. "Where's Rachel anyhow?"

_Click. _Tara looked at him, and found herself facing a gun. An actual gun. "Kor-!" Tara was shot before she could warn her. She slowly crumpled to the ground.

Kory was covered in brownie batter in the kitchen as she diligently tried to follow the Best Recipe for Brownies in the Entire World! that she found on the internet. She couldn't wait until she was done so that Tara could taste the best-brownies-in-the-entire-world!, made right in their own kitchen!

Kory looked happily into her mixing bowl. Its contents were bubbling up and releasing black grainy…she looked closer. Hmm. It looked exactly like the absolutely wonderful _schnorfuklog _back on Tameran!

Her eyes glowed in happiness. "Kor-!" She heard Tara calling her name. She ran to the door. "Tara, you and our guest _must_ try my…" As Kory rounded the corner she was hit directly by the gun.

She fell onto her knees heavily, and then with a concentrated effort, raised her head to look at Gar. Her eyes did not understand the unprecedented betrayal. "Why, friend?" She had to drop her head again, and she panted hard as her body began to shut down. She looked at herself. _No blood. _She looked at Tara. The same.

Gar reloaded the gun again. "You are conscious, and able to remain in your elevated position. It must be your Tameranian DNA. Your body is more resilient to the effects of this paralysis ray than your friend's."

"But," Kory said, "_You_ are our friend, Gar!" Her arms began to tremble as she fought to continue supporting her weight.

Gar smiled. "I was never your friend." A clay-like substance seemed to smear over his features, removing them, and producing new ones. The clay was deforming his nose and reforming another, redefining his mouth and remaking it into another's. A woman's. Kory gasped. It was…

"So you recognize me," she smiled. "I was your enemy _then_; I am your enemy now," her hands played with the trigger, "Nobody can resist the second shot." She aimed; she fired. Kory fell to the ground.

--

"Wally," Jessica glanced back triumphantly at the losers of the catfight, "is there someplace private on the ship…" She looked at Katherine and Shirley pointedly. They quickly looked somewhere else. "Away from some…disturbances?"

"There's a cabin at the other end." He held out his arm.

She smiled. "Okay." She giggled as they began to walk toward the cabin. "You never knew how vicious I could be, am I right?"

"Admittedly, I was scared." Wally laughed. They walked into the cabin. It was small, cozy, and comfortable.

Jessica pouted, "I did it for you. I must like you _so_ much to fight over you."

"I'll thank you," he kissed her.

"You're welcome," she kissed him back.

Back at the other end of the ship, Katherine and Shirley destroyed the appetizer bar. With their mouths stuffed with cheeses, and their mascara running down in black rivulets down their cheeks, they sobbed out insults.

"That conniving…"

"That evil…"

They stopped crying only when Jessica and Wally returned. "I'm sorry, Katherine, Shirley." Wally kissed their foreheads, but walked off with Jessica on his arm. The other two forlornly followed.

--

"I don't normally play peacemaker, but cool it, you guys." Ahn stood as a barrier between her two, anger-charged friends." The only way to get over a guy is to fall for a new one." She turned to Jade. "You have a golden opportunity. I don't know exactly why you're on this show since you don't like it, but use this chance to get over your ex-boyfriend. It's perfect how it's all working out, so perfect I can't believe you didn't see it yet." Jade was silent.

"They're back! They're back!" Sharon's cry penetrated the moody atmosphere of the room.

"Jade?" Ahn approached her immobile figure cautiously. _Maybe I was too harsh?_

"Wish me luck on my date." Ahn grinned as she heard the reply. From Jade, it was the same as saying 'thanks for the advice.'

--

Jessica entered first; her face was shining and radiant. "Hello girls!" She called out to Sharon, Mara, Jade, and Ahn. "I had _so_ much fun!" Mara's eyes narrowed slightly. Her eyes shifted over to the dejected forms of Katherine and Shirley. They walked past everybody's curious stares, and toward their rooms.

"Shirley! Tell me about your date!" Shirley shrugged her twin off, and shut the door to their room. She didn't come out. Neither did Katherine. Everybody looked back at Jessica, who in turn looked at them innocently.

"All I have to say is," she patted her hair, "I am _almost _jealous that you guys get to go on the next date with Wally." She paused, slyly.

Mara, Jade, and Ahn looked at her with stony faces. Sharon broke down quickly.

"What? What do you mean by _almost_?"

"I absolutely _hate_ horseback riding!" Jessica giggled, "Wally told me to tell you girls, so that you don't come on the date in dresses and stilettos. Toodle-loo!" She disappeared down the hallway, and into her room.

Ahn turned to Jade, and caught the delight that danced in her eyes. "At any rate, no matter what she thinks, you're excited, aren't you?" Jade only grinned.

Sharon moaned. "I'm terrified of horses - I hate this!"

"I'm excited too, Jade." Mara's velvety voice startled everyone. "I haven't gone horseback riding since I was a little girl. It should be a very interesting experience."

--

Jade appeared first by the entrance with Ahn. Although Ahn disapproved of her outfit, she thought it fitting for the occasion. Black jeans, pink turtleneck, and black jacket, topped off with her black combat boots. Obviously.

"Tacky."

"_I _like it."

Mara appeared next, wearing professional riding gear as naturally as if she wore it every day. Sharon wore a sequined halter-top, jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat. She came down last. She noticed that Jade and Ahn were in a deep conversation about their different clothing tastes. She slid closer to Mara. "So, all I have to do is keep Wally occupied?"

Mara nodded, glancing over at Jade.

"Are you sure this will work?" Mara just smiled. Sharon shivered unintentionally, _did she really want a part in this? _She reassured herself quickly. _I want to win; I need to win. Jade should have never crossed me._

--

"Hello ladies!" He paused, and he was greeted by three very different women. All three of them were smiling. His eyebrows lifted, Jade was smiling at _him_? At the realization, his own grin grew broader. "Ladies, we are going horseback riding on a dude ranch. I don't know what you think about that, but," he smiled, "there is going to be a scavenger hunt. We will split into groups. Jessica will take the north end, Jade the east, Mara the south, and I, the west."

"But, isn't this supposed to be a date with you?" asked Sharon, her face was twisted in slight annoyance.

"Don't worry, the winner who finds the most ribbons - and they will be attached to posts, so that you won't need to get off your horse - will get to have a dinner date with me, and if I win, I'll be the one to pick." He charmingly smiled.

"How long is the scavenger hunt?" Mara placed a hand on his arm. "I never want to be away from you for too long." Her mascara-covered lashes fluttered. Sharon fumed.

"Only an hour," he looked out the window of the jet plane, "And I do believe we have arrived." The girls looked out the window and were greeted by a landscape of sandy dirt and cactus.

Sharon got off the plane cautiously, looking around in distaste. A line of horses caught her eye. "Are those…"

"Yes," Wally smiled down at her, "Pick one. Snowball is the nicest." Sharon glanced at the white, plump horse with the saddle engraved with its name.

"It's cute." She said. Carefully, she placed her foot on the stirrup, and was about to mount, when Snowball shifted her weight to the other foot. Sharon shrieked, and landed on the saddle disgracefully. "Nice Snowball," her voice sounded strained.

Mara picked a towering mount that stood at seventeen hands at the very least, while Jade brooded over a selection of fiery horses, before choosing a black one.

"The questionnaire you took before signing up for The Bachelor told me that you all are talented riders." Wally looked toward Sharon quickly, her face was pale, and her breathing was shallow. "Um…Sharon?"

"I used to ride well, I just, I fell off my horse one day, and I…I didn't think we would actually ride!" she wailed loudly. The noise made Snowball's ears flick back nervously.

"No problem. Just ride double with me." Sharon perked up. "Is that all right with you, Mara? Jade?" Mara nodded tersely. A vein threatened to pop out, but she calmed herself, _it's all working out, it's all working out._ Jade shrugged, it was unfair, but she wouldn't allow herself to whine. Wally helped Jessica onto his blood bay stallion. "I guess we'll go toward the west end, but I won't help you find the ribbons okay?" Sharon nodded happily, her arms circled Wally's waist tightly, and she pressed herself as close to him as possible. This was her chance. They started riding off.

"Thank you, Wally," she purred, "You're so sweet." She kissed the back of his neck, and rested her head on his shoulder. Wally began to get very distracted.

--

Mara had begun the scavenger hunt. She had found two ribbons already, but enough was enough. She only had an hour, and she had to finish what she had set out to do. She began riding toward the east.

Jade felt like she was flying. She patted the shoulders of her mount, Blackie. What a stupid name, but, she whispered, "Blackie," anyway, and strengthened the pressure of her legs. He threw himself into a faster speed. Ribbons or no ribbons, she was in heaven.

"Jade!" Annoyed, she nevertheless, pulled back on the reins, to slow her mount. She looked back to see Mara trying to catch up with her. She had Blackie slow down even more. Mara had now caught up and was riding head to head with Jade.

"What's with you? I'm supposed to cover the east." Mara smiled, reached over, and before she fully realized it, Jade was falling off her horse.

**--**

Back at the bachelorette house, Ahn was poring over the lists that contained the name of the mystery man she met back at the baseball stadium.

"Well, Robin's out." Rachel commented dryly.

"I know." Ahn crumpled the lists in frustration, before smoothing them out again, as she had been doing for the past five minutes. After five more minutes of fidgeting, She wailed in despair. "This is impossible! I'll never find out who it was!"

"Really." At the tone of her voice, Ahn looked up quickly, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Do you know something?" Rachel merely smirked as she watched Ahn's slow realization that Rachel had known this entire time. "I can't believe you didn't tell me… and I can't _believe_ that you still aren't telling me!" The aggravation in her voice was reaching a dangerous level.

"Speedy." Ahn froze as Rachel went on. "Also known as Roy Harper."

--

Jade slammed onto the ground awkwardly, and not for the first time since she had entered The Bachelor. However, this time, the landing was much more painful. She groaned as she sat up. _How ten years had made a difference. Back _then_, she would have flipped in the air, and landed like a cat, on its feet. _The humiliation!

Jade gritted her teeth as white-hot anger began to take priority over her other emotions. _I let my guard down, _once!She growled to herself._ Once! And this is what happens! Mara had reached over, then _whack!_ her arm had extended itself unnaturally, and knocked her off her horse._

"What was _that_?" Jade spat out, referring to the push; her anger knew no bounds. She glared up at Mara furiously, hands on her hips, her stance defiant, her clothes dusty and rumpled. On the other hand, Mara looked calm, collected, but most of all, Jade noticed uneasily, unrepentant.

"An accident," she said coolly.

"An accident," Jade repeated in disbelief. She crossed her arms, silently demanding an explanation.

Mara rode over to Jade slowly. "Your skills are obviously not as good as they used to be, and what a shame. I was looking forward to this match." _What?_ Jade's uneasiness that had started with spotting Mara in her area, exploded into full-blown suspiciousness.

"What's going on, Mara?" She asked sharply. Her voice didn't reveal anything, but she could feel the danger in the air. Her horse was gone, and she was out in the middle of nowhere, alone, except for _her. _She didn't trust _her_.

"Right now, I am Gemini." _Gemini?_ Jade thought frantically, but she didn't recognize the name."You don't remember?" Mara pouted, but her eyes showed that she was not at all surprised. Instead, she seemed rather pleased. "But you must remember my mother, Madame Rouge?" Jade's eyes widened. Madame Rouge's daughter? That explained the unnatural reach of her arm; she must have inherited her mother's elasticity. The unnatural arm swung toward her direction again, but this time Jade managed to avoid it, narrowly.

"What are you doing!" The voice that replied sent shivers down Jade's spine.

"Destroying you."

* * *

_Who attacked Kory and Tara? -grins- although I think the answer is pretty obvious by now._


	15. Courtesy of Cheshire

**Chapter 15**

* * *

__

And I finally update. Sorry! But better late than never, right?

The story so far…

After the 2nd elimination round, the date box is passed around. The groups are: 1) Katherine, Jessica, Shirley 2) Sharon, Mara, Jade and 3) the individual date is Ahn. The objects in the date box are a horseshoe, a rudder, and a scented candle.

__

In the last chapter: Jessica, the stereotypical blonde, has the best success on the group date with Wally, Jade finds out her ex-boyfriend Victor (Cyborg) is back, a mysterious stranger knocks Kory and Tara unconscious, Sharon agrees to keep Wally occupied for Mara, Ahn finds out her "stalker" is Roy Harper, and Jade is caught by surprise when Mara attacks her, claiming that she is Gemini, daughter of Madame Rouge.

---

Roy Harper nearly choked in fear as he saw the vision of a gorgeous, Asian girl perched atop his chair, who was evidently watching him, simply waiting for him to wake up. Roy instinctively felt the situation for what it was. Not as a situation where a girl voluntarily entered his room, but as a situation where an assassin was getting ready to kill him. _Let it be a dream, let it be a dream, let it be a dream…_he silently prayed. He rubbed his eyes, opened them, and saw Cheshire smiling in pleasure at his clear discomfort. _Oh shit!_

"Hello, Roy." The assassin said in greeting, but Roy knew better than to trust the deceptively calm tone of voice. He scrambled backwards, but was stopped by the headboard of his bed. He gulped, and watched as Cheshire slid off the chair in one fluid movement. Her dark almond eyes gleamed with a wicked sparkle. _Where's my bow…where's my bow? _He reached for his bow by his bedside in panic only to grasp air. He quickly judged the distance to the door as Cheshire strode toward his bed, and cocked her head toward the other side of the room.

Roy's head went into full-panic mode. On the other side of the room, his bow lay in two pieces on the floor, courtesy of Cheshire.

--

Jade wiped the beads of sweat from her brow as she flipped away from another of Mara's well-placed jabs. She stumbled for a moment, and cursed as the throbbing in her leg worsened. In her ungraceful landing, she had managed to tear through the protective layer of clothing, badly skinning her knee on gravelly rock. Already, she could see the blood that pulsed out of her wound seep down onto the untorn cloth of her jeans.

Trying not to show the amount of effort dodging her blows cost her, Jade's pink eyes shot toward Mara in cold fury. Not only had _Gemini_ caught her off-guard, she was actually _toying _with her. Watching Gemini attacking her, a little here, a little there, with no full-frontal offensive that she knew that she was capable of launching, she had quickly realized that the woman was playing a game of cat and mouse, obviously enjoying Jade's predicament, she was dragging out the outcome instead of killing her, right then and there.

_You're mistake was in underestimating me._ Jade's pink eyes glowed pink, and a corner of her mouth curled up in a smirk as huge waves of pink hex energy crackled in her hands, waiting for release. "Ready for a little bad luck?" Powerful pink energy rose up and shattered the ground all around Gemini.

_--_

"How many ribbons is that now?" Wally asked, dismounting. He turned, and helped Sharon down off the horse.

Sharon smiled slowly. "Five." He grinned as she flung her arms around him, and began kissing him enthusiastically. She kissed him on odd numbers; he kissed her on evens. A great system, if not exactly efficient. Over the course of the hour, they had only collected five ribbons, due to their extensive…breaks.

Wally pulled back first. "Are you sure you don't want to try for more ribbons? The hour's almost up."

Sharon pouted. "Oh, all right. I do want to win that dinner date with you afterwards." The bachelor flashed her a grin causing her to swoon. _He was hott!_

_--_

Jade was flung through the air, and had barely landed, when she was again thrown backward with the force of Gemini's punch. Jade quietly seethed with anger with the realization that even using her powers, she was getting beaten, slowly but surely. With every hit she took, she felt herself having to pull some inner strength inside her to force herself back on her feet, because as soon as she did, another attack flew out at her from Gemini's relatively safe distance of a hundred meters.

She shot off bolt after bolt of hex energy all streaming with expert precision toward Gemini, only to miss as she swung her elastic body around her blasts of energy with ease. Break up the ground at her feet? The broken pieces of rubble left by her attack only served as more ammunition for Gemini to hurl at her. She flipped out of the way of a barrage of rocks safely only to unavoidably flip into the fist that shoveled into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Jade landed ungracefully, tumbling over the ground. She clutched her waist in pain.

"Is this the Jinx my mother respected?" Gemini's mouth twisted into a sneer of disgust. "Unbelievable." At her words, Jade hauled herself back up to her feet, launching her own barrage of pink energy. She felt her heart sink, as Gemini easily avoided her attacks again.

A flash of movement, and Jade staggered backward from a blow to the face.

"Your first attack caught me by surprise, and I admit you have great talent and skill. Unluckily for you," Gemini smiled at the irony, "You no longer have the refinement necessary to use your attacks effectively against me. Long ago, perhaps. Certainly not now. You're out of training, and out of luck, Jinx. No more mercy."

"When have you ever shown me mercy?" Jade snarled, prompting more blows to now steadily attack with fervor. When she finally fell with a dull thud, her entire body felt swollen, bruised, cut-up, and bleeding. She hissed with pain as Gemini hauled her up to her feet, unable to do much more than glare.

"_Why are you doing this_?" She spat. "You have revealed your identity, and you're risking discovery. Do you think that I would actually keep quiet about this?"

"When you're dead, it's no longer a problem." Mara said dropping Jade back onto the ground.

"So you're going to kill me." Jade said coldly. Her eyes hard as pink fluorite.

"No. I'm going to let your injuries do the job for me. I'd say you have a couple hours to live at the most." Mara chuckled. "Mother told me to finish the job, but I prefer dragging things out. Either way, you'll end up dead."

"I still have one question." Her snarl stopped Mara in her tracks.

"Yes?" She asked, patiently, pulling in the reins.

"Why do you want to kill me?"

"Don't take it to heart. I'm simply eliminating the competition."

"For Wally?" Jade asked in disbelief.

"Clever girl. I am, after all, not above a little cheating." Mara rode away.

_--_

Roy was hanging helplessly by shuriken that dug through his clothes and embedded itself into the wall behind him. He watched nervously as she studied him carefully. Probably deciding how she should dismember me. He thought forlornly.

"Still as handsome as ever." Roy was caught off-guard.

"What?" Cheshire shrugged matter-of-factly, and he felt something close to disappointment at her casual gesture.

"So say a lot of girls." He also said, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Her head turned, and her dark eyes blinked. Once.

Speedy felt the room's temperature seem to drop 20 degrees. _What'd I do now? _He thought frantically.

"It was nice meeting you again, Speedy." Her words were pleasant enough, but her eyes were like dry ice, so cold they burned. As they bore into him, Speedy sensed his own impending doom.

"Likewise," he managed to say before he blacked out from a straightforward punch to his jaw.

_--_

Wally and Jessica waited by the main ranch house for Mara and Jade.

"Do their ribbons count since they're late?"

"Let's give them a half hour."

"That's not fair!" Sharon whined as she clung to his arm.

"Look at it this way," Wally smiled at her reassuringly, "you already kind of got your individual date." Sharon nodded, somewhat appeased, and Wally looked away in relief, and saw a figure riding towards them, leaving swirling clouds of dust behind her. It was Mara.

She swung herself out of the saddle, looking beautifully confident, without a hair out of place. She held out her final number of ribbons toward the bachelor: 4.

"I win!" Sharon crowed. "I have six!"

"We still have to wait for the last bachelorette." Wally reminded her, causing her to deflate a little. Another cloud of dust steadily came towards them. "That must be her," he concluded.

However, as the cloud of dust came closer, it became steadily apparent that the horse had no rider. "What the…where is she?" He asked in bewilderment. He ran forward to grab the reins of the black horse, whose sides were slick with sweat, and its eyes rolled back in fear. He studied the barren landscape, and quickly made his decision.

He swept into a formal bow. "I apologize ladies. But I'm going to go look for Jade." He resaddled and rebridled his blood-bay horse, and mounted within minutes. "Tell the owner of the ranch house that one of the bachelorettes are missing, and to organize a search," he added quietly, "it probably isn't a big deal, but just in case. Please wait in the ranch house. It should be sorted out soon." They watched in silence as he rode away.

"Mara?" Sharon looked at Mara whose face remained composed; one had to look hard to see the self-satisfaction slightly tracing her features. Sharon felt the euphoria of the date rapidly disappearing into a pool of uneasiness. "What exactly did you do?"

--

Wally immediately forced his horse into a sprint toward the east, the direction Jade was supposed to have taken. He reached the first post, the red ribbon taken long ago. Where was she? He tied the stallion to the post, and after a moment's hesitation, sped off, still in his civilian clothes. He covered the terrain in wide arcs, at speeds that would put a cheetah driving a racecar to shame. He laughed aloud in delight. How he missed running at the speed of sound! He stopped abruptly as he spied a sprawled over lump in the distance. He sprinted forward, his heart racing with a feeling of dread. The ground in the area had buckled and caved. Parts of the ground had been blasted apart, leaving craters and freshly formed ravines that cut deep into the dirt.

He swallowed as he approached the still figure lying facedown in the sand. _It can't be her. It can't be._

He slowly bent down, delaying the inevitable staring up at him through the form of matted, dusty strands of pink hair. The only person he knew with pink hair was…_It can't be her. It can't be!_ He couldn't believe the waves of denial that rushed over him like a tidal wave. He secretly prayed that it wasn't _her_, that it was another pink-haired girl out in the middle of a deserted dude ranch. He gently turned the body over.

_Jade._

* * *


	16. Ribbons

**Chapter 16**

* * *

_Jade._

It was unmistakably her. The impertinent curve of her sharp, little nose, her thin, narrow lips, her high cheekbones, the proud arch of her eyebrows, and her ash-gray skin, paler than he had ever seen it.

He breathed out slowly, trying to calm himself, to ignore the blood that dribbled down her cheek from the deep gash above her eye like a constant stream of crimson tears.

He checked her pulse, and found it impossible to ignore the relief that swept through him like a tidal wave. Still alive, still waiting to be saved.

_I won't let you die._ He was startled by his vehemence, but barely registered it in the urgency of the situation. Rule of emergency: never move the body. But if he knew anything that was going on, she needed help right away.

He gently lifted her unconscious form, and ran, not for fun as he had earlier, but for urgency, the landscape blurring into one brown haze. He reached the post where he had tied his horse within fractions of a second.

He hesitated, wincing at the thought of putting her on a horse, whose rocking movements would jar her injuries painfully, but he had no choice. How would the others think he carried her to them so quickly? He carefully lifted her onto the horse, and pulled himself up super speed, insuring she wouldn't have time to fall off. He positioned her so that she would lean against him, and immediately moved the stallion into a full-on sprint toward the ranch house.

----

Mara's eyes had widened in shock as the bachelor had burst through the doors of the ranch house cradling Jade in his arms. The impossible had happened. He had _found_ her_._ Her chest felt tight with unspeakable fury, as her plan had been thwarted. Jade was alive, Jade would get better, and studying the bachelor's haggard expression, she worried that she had helped make Jade an even bigger rival than she was before. Her eyes smoldered as she realized she had erred. She should have listened to Mother after all, and taken care of the problem herself.

"Call 911!" She heard him bellow. "She's _dying_!" The woman at the desk nodded in shock, her hand already reaching for the phone.

His worry - perhaps natural - only served to increase her rage, which was compounded by every OMIGOD! Sharon racketed out at the top of her lungs.

"OMIGOD! OMIGOD-OMIGOD-OMIGOD-_OMIGOD_!" The last of the omigods ended in a shriek of horror as Sharon stood, one hand stretched out towards Jade, the other fluttering around her mouth as if getting ready to stifle a scream. "Mm-m-I-I-" Her stutters of disbelief stopped abruptly. Her eyes that swung toward Mara in accusation, immediately swung away sensing the danger Mara radiated. "She-she…" Sharon couldn't say anything more; she was struck dumb.

_----_

The sound of sirens. The _swoosh_ of air as Wally ran past. The slam of the ambulance doors as Jade was carried away. Away from the vengeance of Mara.

_Impossible,_ Mara thought._ To find her that fast, it's impossible. It was supposed to be impossible!" _She glanced at the bachelor who was watching the ambulance speed away, his brow creased with apprehension.

The bachelor eventually forced on a smile, his white teeth flashing charmingly, despite the sirens that were still audible in the distance. He turned to the other two ladies.

"Ladies, despite the circumstances today, there still has been no change in our plans."

"Really?" Mara asked incredulously.

"Really?" Sharon echoed. "So I get that dinner date?"

"The group date is officially over with the collection of the ribbons, and as for the dinner date, I'm sorry, Miss Sharon, but I believe Jade Hex has won with a total number of _seven_ lucky ribbons."

"What?" Mara asked, more to herself than anyone else. _Impossible._

"She got _seven_!" Sharon threw up her hands. "Omigod. I can't _believe_ this Wally!"

"I'm sorry, Sharon." He said, trying to extract himself from her octopus-like arms. "I really am." Wally struggled. "So, if you would please _let go_…Sharon, I'm sorry about this too, but if only you would…!" Wally valiantly tried to assuage her, but failed, as she clamped onto him tighter, and wailed in disappointment.

"Walleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Ah! There's our ride!" He looked down at the girl. "Sharon…I kinda need my arms free if you want me to help you into the limo…" Sharon sniffled and finally let go.

_Impossible._ Mara thought as a limousine pulled up to take them back to the bachelorette pad. _That meant Jade had gotten seven ribbons before she had attacked. Impossible. _She thought as Wally helped them both in. _How could it happen? _She thought, imagining herself gripping chunks of pink hair and ripping them out of the unfortunate scalp. _Impossible._ She thought again as she got down out of the limo, and kissed Wally good-night.

_Impossible. _Hatred clutched her heart.

----

"Mr. West, Miss Hex has regained consciousness, and is in stable condition. She should be fine enough to be checked out of the hospital in a few days."

"Thank you, doctor."

"Is she your girlfriend, Mr. West?"

"Sort of." Wally grinned, thinking of the six _other_ girls on the show.

"You're a lucky man."

"Thank you, sir." He said, grinning even more broadly.

He walked into Jade's room, and had to stifle his laughter at the sight that greeted him. A glaring Jade covered in more bandages and gauze than there were ornaments on a Christmas tree, trying to look _dignified_.

"Your _girl_friend?" She accused, immediately asking a barrage of questions before receiving an answer.

"Why are you laughing?" Eyes narrowing. "What's that?" Indicating toward the silver cart he had brought.  
"What are you doing here?" Eyes widening as more laughter threatened to leak out.

"Get - out!" Eyes flashing pink as the bachelor dodged.

_Boom! _Her attack hit the cart instead. Silver cutlery flew everywhere, accompanied by the long sigh exhaled by the bachelor.

"_That_," He said pointing to the ruined chicken marsala on the floor, "was our dinner." Jade paused, considering that. She flopped back onto the pillows, surprised.

"I won the dinner date? Really?" Wally shrugged, and concentrated on salvaging what he could from the cart. "With only three ribbons?"

"What happened out there anyway?" He said quickly. _Well, he _had_ been meaning to ask._

"None of your business." She snapped irritably.

"It sort of is. I saved your life, you know." He grinned as she froze.

"You. _You_ did?" She asked incredulously. He made a mental note to ask about what happened to her later. The important thing was that she was all right, and...that she had stopped questioning him about the dinner date."Anyway, the only thing you _didn't_ destroy…is dessert." He noticed her eyes light up with undisguised delight when he presented the dish. "Strawberries and cream."

She licked her lips absently, staring at the dessert. "Mmm." Wally caught himself staring at her, and looked away in a rush, and he could hardly believe himself when he couldn't resist the temptation to sneak a glance towards her again; she was looking at the spoon, then back at the dessert hungrily, then back at the spoon. Her arms and body were strapped down onto the hospital bed.

Wally's eyes suddenly sparkled mischievously.

"So why are you strapped down on the hospital bed?"

"Oh. That." Jade shrugged. "They put that on me after I tried escaping. Didn't work."

"You can't use your powers?"

"Not without risking discovery." Jade said slowly. "Surely you know that."

"You just attacked me now." He explained patiently.

"You're a different case." He considered that.

"But you can't move."

"No…" She said impatiently. "You know I can't."

"Want me to feed you?" He asked slyly.

"No." He expected that.

"Strawberries and cream…" he held the dish tantalizingly under her proud little nose.

"No!" She tried to turn away from the delectable smell of cream and strawberries. "Rachel and Ahn are coming soon; they can help me eat it. " She added, trying to deter him.

_What!_ Wally thought in alarm. _And ruin all my fun? _He grabbed a spoon and loaded it with cream...

"What are you doing?"...and added a small and juicy strawberry..."I'm warning you!..." He moved the spoon toward her mouth. She pressed her lips closed, clamping her mouth shut, refusing to be fed. He grinned, unable to stop his glee from finding an outlet.

Because he had expected that.

He moved forward, tapping the cream-loaded spoon against her mouth, and pulled back. Her lips were covered with cream. Rich delicious cream with a hint of strawberries. Jade swallowed hard, and she felt her mouth start to water.

She found him staring. Eyes that regarded her with an unreadable expression. Her cheeks pinkened slightly as she reluctantly opened her mouth, and licked the cream. _Delicious._ She glanced at the bachelor's face quickly. Blue eyes shined with laughter as red began to stain her cheeks.

"Shut up."

The spoon moved forward again, loaded. Instinctively Jade clamped her mouth shut, then thought better of it. She opened her mouth, letting him feed her spoon after spoon of strawberries and cream.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" The bachelor smirked.

"What do you think?"

"You _are_." Jade glowered.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one."

"You think I'm _enjoying_ this?" Jade shrieked at the top of her lungs. Partly because he had guessed the truth. Partly because she desperately wanted to deny it.

"Yes." He said evenly. "Look me straight in the eyes and tell me that you hate me. I bet you can't." He said, making a gamble.

"I hate you." She said immediately, looking straight into his eyes. She had planned on glaring as well, but that ended up failing miserably. She found herself staring into his piercing blue eyes instead. _"I saved your life, you know." _With his eyes that remained fixed on hers, she was unable to look away. Her heart thumped erratically of its own accord; her pulse began to race. Jade was terrified that any second now, she would find herself melting into puddles at his feet.

His blue eyes suddenly looked away, and Jade breathed an inward sigh of relief - until she followed his gaze, toward the monitors.

"Your pulse rate is extremely high." He mentioned casually, amusement tinged his voice. "It almost makes me think you like me." He laughed as she flushed an extraordinary shade of red.

"Don't flatter yourself," she said scornfully, the effect somewhat dampened as he watched her pulse rate soar higher on the screen. Traitorous heart.

"Mm hm." He responded with an all-knowing smile that said that he thought otherwise. Jade's temper skyrocketed out of control.

"Get. Out." She seethed.

"You sure you want me to go?" Wally dimpled. Jade glowered. "All right, all right." He said good-humoredly. Jade bit her lip, and sank back into her pillows, as she watched him leave the room. _Great. Now she owed _him_ out of all people for saving her life. _

"Hi, Ahn! Hey Rachel!" She heard him greet her friends. "Jade's being her usual sarcastic, cruel, bossy, rude, sadistic self." Jade gritted her teeth.

"Wow…that's quite a list." Ahn commented.

"Thank you, Wally." Rachel said, dryly. The two entered the room, and shut the door. Ahn attached one of her special devices that guaranteed that eavesdroppers would be noticed immediately.

"Jade, what the heck happened out there?"

"Aren't you even going to ask if I'm okay?" Jade asked, a little put out.

"..." Rachel looked at her with an expression that said, _you look perfectly fine to me, Jade._

"Okay, okay! Mara happened." Jade muttered.

"What do you mean?" Purple eyes bore into her. "You mean she attacked you?" Jade gave a single nod.

"I really didn't expect it of her." Jade admitted.

"What? _Her_?" Ahn asked belatedly, coming out of her shock. "She managed to _beat you up_?"

"Yes…" Jade gritted out. "That's the reason I'm in a hospital. Remember?"

"Hmm." Ahn's eyes seemed to cloud over. Calculating. Cold.

"She called herself Gemini. She's Madame Rouge's daughter."

"Her reason?" Rachel asked, already guessing the answer.

"She wanted to eliminate the competition." Jade turned her pink eyes toward Ahn. "Ahn, I'd watch out, if I were you." Ahn gave Jade a crooked smile.

"She'll have a hard time getting rid of me. I've never been out of training. Remember?"

"Yeah..." Jade gave her a sidelong glance. "You haven't assassinated anyone recently, have you?"

"Actually, I tested a couple of my new moves on someone today. It wasn't an assassination job," Ahn mused. "but it was still pretty fun."

----

Later, his friends found the ex-archer's barely conscious body hanging helplessly on the wall.

"What the heck happened to you, Roy?!"

"She found me," he croaked. "And she wasn't happy."

"Dude." Gar stared at Roy. "That has _got_ to be the understatement of the year."

* * *

_Hope you liked it! Please read and review!_


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